Optical imaging of produced light in water during irradiation of gamma photons lower energy than the Cerenkov-light threshold

Abstract

It is commonly believed that gamma photon irradiation to water does not produce light in water if the gamma photon energy is lower than the Cerenkov-light threshold and imaging of gamma photon is impossible because the produced electrons from gamma photons do not emit light. However, we found that the light is produced in water and the imaging of produced light in water was possible with gamma photon irradiation even at lower energy than the Cerenkov-light threshold. We irradiated gamma photons with lower energy than the Cerenkov-light threshold (260 keV for electrons in water) from 99mTc (gamma photon energy of 140.5 keV) to water phantom, optical imaging was carried out with a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera. Also we conducted imaging of the gamma photons irradiation to acrylic and plastic scintillator blocks. The optical images of water were observed from 3600 s exposure time, and the intensity of the luminescence was linearly increased with time although the intensity was ~0.001% of that with the plastic scintillator block. The optical imaging of water during irradiation of gamma photons lower energy than the Cerenkov-light threshold was possible and it could be a new method for distribution measurements of gamma photons in water.