Mew scintillating materials based on liquid crystals for particle detectors

The results of studies of optical, photoluminescence, and scintillation cha racteristics of 4-amil-4'-cyanobiphenyl liquid crystals are presented. Thos e crystals Showed a scintillation light yield of similar to 35% of anthrace ne, fluorescence decay times of 4 and 14 ns, and a maximum of the emission spectrum of similar to 400 nm. The light yield of a solution of a liquid cr ystal and the R6 green scintillation additive is similar to 120% of anthrac ene. The light yield of a frozen solution at -120 degrees C was found to be 2.5 times higher than at 20 degrees C. An oriented liquid crystal has an a ppreciable level of emitted-light polarization. The maximum emitted light i ntensity in an oriented liquid crystal is perpendicular to the direction al ong which most long molecular axes are oriented. The possibilities of emplo ying scintillating liquid crystals for improving the characteristics of exi sting particle detectors and designing new controllable detectors are consi dered.