Radioluminescence energy yield of organic solid scintillators excited by different ionizing radiations

Abstract

Radioluminescence energy yield is studied as a function of the specific energy losses by a particle. The calculations are based on measurements of the quantum efficiency and light yield for traditional solid organic scintillators and on a study of the generation and energy exchange of pairs of charged states in local regions of the track of an ionizing particle with different specific energy losses. The luminescence energy yield for radiations that do not create tracks (Y γ for gamma-ray photons and Y e for electrons) is 10–30 times smaller than the photoexcitation energy yield Y ph. The radioluminescence yield for excitation by alpha particles (large dE/dx) is found to be 10–40 times smaller than the energy yield for ionizing radiations with small dE/dx.