scintillation

Examples of scintillation in the following topics:

• Radiation Detection

  • Different types of radiation detectors exist ; gaseous ionization detectors, semiconductor detectors, and scintillation detectors are the most common.
  • A scintillation detector is created by coupling a scintillator -- a material that exhibits luminescence when excited by ionizing radiation -- to an electronic light sensor, such as a photomultiplier tube (PMT) or a photodiode.
  • PMTs absorb the light emitted by the scintillator and re-emit it in the form of electrons via the photoelectric effect.
  • The pulse yields meaningful information about the particle that originally struck the scintillator.
  • Scintillators are used by the American government, particularly Homeland Security, as radiation detectors.

• The Discovery of the Parts of the Atom

  • Earlier, Rutherford learned to create hydrogen nuclei as a type of radiation produced as a yield of the impact of alpha particles on hydrogen gas; these nuclei were recognized by their unique penetration signature in air and their appearance in scintillation detectors.
  • These experiments began when Rutherford noticed that when alpha particles were shot into air (mostly nitrogen), his scintillation detectors displayed the signatures of typical hydrogen nuclei as a product.

• Tracers

  • Therefore, the radioactive isotope can be present in low concentration and its presence still detected by sensitive radiation detectors such as Geiger counters and scintillation counters.

• Emission Topography

  • These are detected when they reach a scintillator in the scanning device, creating a burst of light which is detected by photomultiplier tubes or silicon avalanche photodiodes .