Alpha energy dependence of alpha induced liquid radioluminescense

Abstract

The presence of alpha radiation causes weak nitric acid solutions to emit ultraviolet light. The light is an optical indicator for the presence of alpha radiation and thus potentially valuable in nuclear facilities and for nuclear safety at large. The origins and mechanisms that give rise to the light emissions are yet to be understood which prevents the light from being efficiently used in techniques that enable optical detection of alpha radiation in nitric acid solutions. This work addresses this issue by measuring the light yield as a function of the alpha particle energy. This particular study recorded the light output of alpha particles produced by ²⁴⁴Cm (E_a = 5.805 MeV), ²⁴¹Am (E_a = 5.485 MeV) and ²³¹Pa (E_a = 5.014 MeV) and found essentially no significant dependence of the light output with the energy of the alpha particle. The number of photons produced per stopped alpha particle was found to be 0.297 ± 0.006 (²⁴⁴Cm), 0.307 ± 0.004 (²⁴¹Am) and 0.304 ± 0.006 (²³¹Pa) with a coverage factor, k = 1.