Abstract
The time resolution of the detectors currently in use is limited by 50–70 ps due to the spontaneous processes involved in the development of the response signal, which forms after the relaxation of carriers generated during the interaction. In this study, we investigate the feasibility of exploiting sub-picosecond phenomena occurring after the interaction of scintillator material with ionizing radiation by probing the material with ultra-short laser pulses. One of the phenomena is the elastic polarization due to the local lattice distortion caused by the displacement of electrons and holes generated by ionization. The key feature of the elastic polarization is its short response time, which makes it prospective for using as an optically detectable time mark. The nonlinear optical absorption of femtosecond light pulses of appropriate wavelength is demonstrated to be a prospective tool to form the mark. This study was aimed at searching for inorganic crystalline media combining scintillation properties and non-linear absorption of ultra-short laser pulses. The nonlinear pump-and-probe optical absorption technique with 200 fs laser pulses was used to study the effects in lead tungstate, garnet-type, and diamond scintillator crystals.
Highlights
T HE upcoming experiments in high-energy physics require the time resolution of scintillation detectors better than10-20 ps
This is not feasible using the conventional scintillation detectors with the time response limited by the time of Manuscript received January 22, 2016; revised September 11, 2016 and September 20, 2016, and October 6, 2016; accepted October 10, 2016
Our study was aimed at searching for inorganic crystalline media exhibiting good scintillation properties as well as strong non-linear absorption of ultra-short laser pulses
Summary
T HE upcoming experiments in high-energy physics require the time resolution of scintillation detectors better than. The crystals with lattice cations having strong contribution of d orbitals in conduction band (tungstates, molybdates, rare-earth and yttrium garnets, perovskites, oxy-orthosilicates, etc.) might be good candidates for using them as timing tools. Our study was aimed at searching for inorganic crystalline media exhibiting good scintillation properties as well as strong non-linear absorption of ultra-short laser pulses. Lead tungstate is currently the most extensively used scintillation material in high energy physics experiments [1], while the recently developed mixed garnet crystals showed fast response and highlight yield up to 56000 ph/MeV [2]. The observed effect encouraged our further study in this direction to develop a novel detecting technique exploiting the interaction of short laser pulses with crystalline media excited. In addition to pure scintillation materials synthetic diamond was probed with two-photon absorption
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