Pure organic crystals. Pure organic crystals include crystals of anthracene, stilbene and naphthalene. The decay time of this type of phosphor is approximately 10 nanoseconds. This type of crystal is frequently used in the detection of beta particles. They are very durable, but their response is anisotropic (which spoils energy resolution when the source is not collimated), and they cannot be easily machined, nor can they be grown in large sizes. Therefore they are not very often used.
Liquid organic solutions. Liquid organic solutions are produced by dissolving an organic scintillator in a solvent.
Plastic scintillators. Plastic phosphors are made by adding scintillation chemicals to a plastic matrix. The decay constant is the shortest of the three phosphor types, approaching 1 or 2 nanoseconds. Plastic scintillators are therefore more appropriate for use in high-flux environments and in high dose rate measurements. The plastic has a high hydrogen content, therefore, it is useful for fast neutron detectors. It takes substantially more energy to produce a detectable photon in a scintillator than an electron-ion pair through ionization (typically by a factor of 10), and because inorganic scintillators produce more light than organic scintillators, they are consequently better for applications at low energies.