Detection of the scintillation light induced by α particles in pure CF4

The scintillation light induced by 5.5 MeV α particles has been detected in pure CF4 at the pressure of 1.2 bar both with 120 nm and with 180 nm wavelength threshold. The scintillation photons emitted in CF4 are about 20 and 45% of the ones emitted by Xe, above 120 and 180 nm respectively. No light has been seen above 400 nm. A reduced electric field E/p, where p is the gas pressure, between 10 and 400 V cm−1 bar−1 does not affect the signal amplitude.