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Invited Paper:

Paper presented in the National Symposium on Contemporary Physics, November 6-8, 1997, Physics Department, Presidency College, Kolkata, India, (The Indian Physics Association), abstract, page 25

 

LIGHT EMISSION OBSERVED FROM IONIZING RADIATION SOURCES

BY AN ATOMIC PHENOMENON

 

M.A.Padmanabha Rao

Defence Laboratory, Jodhpur 342001, Rajasthan, India, raomap@yahoo.com,

 

 

Light emission has been observed along with characteristic X-rays (from chemicals such as Rubidium Sulphate, Barium Oxide and Terbium Peroxide on excitation of gamma rays from 241Am) a fact unknown since the discovery of X-rays. Light emission also has been observed from radioisotopes, a fact unknown since the discovery of radioactivity. It evidently showed light emission follows mainly the X-rays, gamma rays, and beta particles. The emission has been observed even when the sources are present in metal form (Cu, Ag, and Mo targets on gamma excitation; also from 57Co and 60 Co) notably at room temperature. These results exclude emission of incandescent light, and suggest that the light observed must be occurring through a new atomic phenomenon. Since metal constitutes metal atoms, the emission should be atomic emission of light, in other words, fluorescent light, which is believed to be the same case with the rest of the sources. But fluorescent light emission from chemicals is never known particularly at room temperature since the inception of atomic spectroscopy. It could happen only because in all these sources the light emission takes place from the same excited atom, which emits ionizing radiations. A further study using sheet polarizers showed dominance of UV in comparison to visible and near infrared radiations from low energy ionizing radiation sources like characteristic X-rays, and a little raise in near infrared radiation from high-energy sources like 60Co and 90Sr.  Furthermore, the intensity of light was found relatively high from low energy sources in comparison to that from high-energy sources. These strange results, which support fluorescent light emission could be explained well by an atomic phenomenon: (1) Ionizing radiation loses energy in eV level while passing through charged space around the orbital electrons within the atom of their origin. The loss of energy that forms electromagnetic radiation, with energies in eV level, excites valence electron and causes fluorescent light emission.

 

Other publications of the author on optical emission newly detected from radioisotopes and XRF sources: https://www.angelfire.com/sc3/1010/publications.html