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arXiv · 1305.3644

Sound and light from fractures in scintillators

A. Tantot·S. Santucci·O. Ramos·S. Deschanel·M. -A. Verdier·E. Mony·Y. Wei·S. Ciliberto·L. Vanel·P. C. F. Di Stefano
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Abstract

Prompted by intriguing events observed in certain particle-physics searches for rare events, we study light and acoustic emission simultaneously in some inorganic scintillators subject to mechanical stress. We observe mechanoluminescence in ${Bi}_4{Ge}_{3}{O}_{12}$, ${CdWO}_{4}$ and ${ZnWO}_{4}$, in various mechanical configurations at room temperature and ambient pressure. We analyze how the light emission is correlated to acoustic emission during fracture. For ${Bi}_4{Ge}_{3}{O}_{12}$, we set a lower bound on the energy of the emitted light, and deduce that the fraction of elastic energy converted to light is at least $3 \times 10^{-5}$.

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A. Tantot, S. Santucci, O. Ramos, S. Deschanel, M. -A. Verdier, E. Mony, Y. Wei, S. Ciliberto, L. Vanel, P. C. F. Di Stefano. 2013-10-17. Sound and light from fractures in scintillators. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.111.154301

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