Source of luminescence of water lower energy than the Cerenkov-light threshold during irradiation of carbon-ion

Abstract

Although luminescence of water during irradiations of proton and carbon-ion lower energy than the Cerenkov-light threshold were found recently, the sources of the luminescence were not yet obvious. To estimate the sources of the luminescence, we measured the light spectrum of the luminescence of water during carbon-ion irradiations and estimated the sources of the luminescence. Using an ultraviolet (UV) light sensitive charge coupled device (CCD) camera, we measured the luminescence images of water during carbon-ion beam irradiations by changing optical filters, derived the light spectra of the luminescence of water and compared with the calculated results. The intensity of the measured light spectrum of the luminescence of water at the Bragg peak region was decreased as the wavelength of light proportional to ~λ−2.0 where λ is the wavelength of the light, indicating the source of the luminescence of water can be electromagnetic pulse produced by the dipole displacement inside the water molecules. In the shallow part of the water prior to the Bragg peak, where the Cerenkov-light is included, the spectrum showed steeper curve that is proportional to ~λ−2.6, which was similar to the calculated spectrum of Cerenkov-light including the refractive index changes of water with the wavelength of light. From these results, the luminescence of water is thought to be mainly come from electromagnetic pulse produced by the dipole displacement inside the water molecules.