Laser-amplified scintillations for detection of α radiation

Abstract

A practical laser-amplified scintillation experiment is performed in order to determine the sensitivity of the technique. Radioactive decay from a 2.6 μCi 238U source provides 4.2 MeV α particles. In the 2p 53s manifold, neon metastables are produced by interaction with secondary electrons produced in the decay event. Laser-induced fluorescence is excited from the ground state of the 2p 53s manifold to a low-lying level in the 2p 53p manifold (1s 5→2p 9) with a continuous wave dye laser at 640.2 nm. Fluorescence is observed in the near IR in a photon counting experiment.