Effect of an electric field on superfluid helium scintillation produced by α-particle sources

被引：25

作者：

Ito, T. M. ^{[1
]}

Clayton, S. M. ^{[1
]}

Ramsey, J. ^{[1
]}

Karcz, M. ^{[2
]}

Liu, C. -Y. ^{[2
]}

Long, J. C. ^{[2
]}

Reddy, T. G. ^{[2
]}

Seidel, G. M. ^{[3
]}

机构：

[1] Los Alamos Natl Lab, Los Alamos, NM 87545 USA

[2] Indiana Univ, Dept Phys, Bloomington, IN 47405 USA

[3] Brown Univ, Dept Phys, Providence, RI 02912 USA

来源：

PHYSICAL REVIEW A | 2012年 / 85卷 / 04期

基金：

美国国家科学基金会;

关键词：

LIQUID-HELIUM; DYNAMIC PROPERTIES; TIME-DEPENDENCE; IONIZATION; RECOMBINATION; FLUORESCENCE; EXCITATIONS; ENERGY; LUMINESCENCE; NUCLEATION;

D O I：

10.1103/PhysRevA.85.042718

中图分类号：

O43 [光学];

学科分类号：

070207 ; 0803 ;

摘要：

We report a study of the intensity and time dependence of scintillation produced by weak alpha-particle sources in superfluid helium in the presence of an electric field (0-45 kV/cm) in the temperature range of 0.2 to 1.1 K at the saturated vapor pressure. Both the prompt and the delayed components of the scintillation exhibit a reduction in intensity with the application of an electric field. The reduction in the intensity of the prompt component is well approximated by a linear dependence on the electric field strength with a reduction of 15% at 45 kV/cm. When analyzed using the Kramers theory of columnar recombination, this electric field dependence leads to the conclusion that roughly 40% of the scintillation results from species formed from atoms originally promoted to excited states and 60% from excimers created by ionization and subsequent recombination with the charges initially having a cylindrical Gaussian distribution about the alpha track of 60 nm radius. The intensity of the delayed component of the scintillation has a stronger dependence on the electric field strength and on temperature. The implications of these data on the mechanisms affecting scintillation in liquid helium are discussed.

引用

页数：14

共 49 条

[21] THE W-VALUES AND FANO FACTORS IN HELIUM AND ARGON-DOPED HELIUM [J].