Proton induced radiation damage studies on plastic scintillators for the Tile calorimeter of the atlas detector

Acknowledgments 
I would like to convey my sincere gratitude to my advisors Prof Bruce Mellado and Prof 
Elias Sideras-Haddad. I have gained an invaluable amount of experience whilst working 
on this project. Thank you for challenging me and my abilities, pushing me to achieve 
my very best and motivating me when I needed it most.
To Dr Rudolph Erasmus, thank you for showing me the ropes for use of the Varian Cary 
spectrophotometer, the LabRAM HR Raman spectrograph and for all your assistance in 
conducting the Raman spectroscopy and fine tuning of the fluorescence testing. My 
research would not be where it is were it not for your willingness to lend a hand and 
your helpful suggestions.
Thank you to iThemba LABS, Gauteng, for allowing the use of the 6 MV Tandem
accelerator. To Dr Morgan Madhuku, Mr Fritz Baltzun and Mr Oleg Pekar, thank 
you for assisting me with the proton irradiations and for the countless hours spent 
on fine tuning of the beam optics. 
I also wish to covey thanks to the following people:

Mr Gerrard Peters for fashioning the ideal sample preparation method. 

Mr Vincent Govender and staff at the workshop for making up all of the samples 
holders, mounts and odd parts needed for experiments.

Mr Oleg Solovyanov for assisting me with use of the light box set-up at CERN 

Members of the TileCal community, particularly the late Mrs Eirini Vichou and 
Mrs Anna Hendriques, for their positive suggestions as well as for procuring the 
scintillators under study.
On a personal note, I wish to convey my utmost appreciation and gratitude to my mum, 
Maya, my sister Rupal and my fiancé Nishaan, as well as to the rest of my extended 
family and friends who have supported me alon g the way.
“It is only a paper moon 
Sailing over a cardboard sea 
But it wouldn't be make believe 
If you believed in me” 
The support of the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Strong Materials (CoE-SM) 
towards this research is hereby acknowledged. The financial assistance of the 
National Research Foundation (NRF) towards this research is hereby 
acknowledged. Opinions expressed and conclusions arrived at, are those of the 
author and are not necessarily to be attributed to the CoE -SM or to the NRF. 

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