Photon yield of radioluminescense produced by 241Am in weak nitric acid solution

Remote detection of alpha radiation by optical means is a widely accepted alternative to the more traditional detection methods that typically rely on direct contact with the radiation itself. Optical detection operates by collecting the light, the radioluminescence that is produced when alpha particles are being stopped in a medium. Each medium creates radioluminescence with a distinct spectral pattern and intensity. To properly design the detection optics, the radioluminescence’s spectral shape and the number of photons generated per alpha event have to be known. Those properties are well known for some stopping media like air, and remote detection has been successfully implemented. However, the radioluminescence properties for the stopping media nitric acid and water are not well known, which prevents the application of the technique in relevant areas like spent nuclear fuel processing. In this contribution, we determine the light yield of alpha particles emitted by 241Am dissolved in a well characterized weak nitric acid solution. It was found to be 0.31 ± 0.007 photons per alpha event.

MALMBECK Rikard;  BANIK Nidhu;  KERST Thomas;  SOTI Zsolt; 

2022-09-08

SPRINGER

JRC124785

0236-5731 (online),   

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10967-021-07703-1,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC124785,   

10.1007/s10967-021-07703-1 (online),