Temperature Dependence of Energy Degradation in Organic Liquid Scintillators

Under high energy excitation, organic molecules are generally excited to electronic states above the first excited state. Since, at not too high solute concentrations, energy transfer in organic liquid scintillators occurs via the first excited electronic state, the efficiency of degradation to this state affects the overall light output. Experimental results for a number of systems, at temperatures from 20°C to 24°C are reported. It was found that the efficiency of degradation to the first excited state generally decreases with increasing temperature, with some variation among the solvents tested. It was found that; the greater the efficiency of degradation to the first excited state at 20°C, the less this efficiency varies with temperature.