THE USE OF 1.5 MU-M INFRARED LIGHT FROM A COOLED SCINTILLATOR FOR OPTICAL-FIBER BASED SYSTEM

The scintillation mechanism in scintillators is affected by the operat ing temperature. Therefore we can control to some extent the scintilla tion property by controlling the temperature. Recently me developed an optical fiber based radiation measurement system in a nuclear facilit y. To utilize the full ability of optical fibers, wavelength of conven tional scintillators is too short. Thus we investigated the scintillat ion property at different temperatures. After a series of experiments, we have found infrared light emission around 1.5 mu m from a cooled C sI(T1) scintillator. Although the intensity of this emission is less t han 1/10 of the visible light intensity, this wavelength matches the m inimum loss in silica optical fibers. It also matches partly the ampli fication band of the erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA). This interes ting coincidence might lead us to the possibility of using this materi al as an ''infrared scintillator''.