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The action of β and γ rays on rock salt crystals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2008

P. W. Burbidge
Affiliation:
Trinity CollegeTravelling Fellow of the Universities Bureau of the British Empire

Extract

1. Many insulating crystals, such as rock salt, after exposure to high energy radiation, e.g. X-rays, β-rays, ultra-violet light or γ rays, acquire, as a result of this treatment, two new properties: (i) a new absorption band, usually situated in the visible spectrum, well separated from the continuous absorption in the far ultra-violet, and, when intense, giving visible coloration to the crystal in ordinary light; (ii) the power of showing what has been termed the inner photo-electric effect, i.e. when subjected to an electric field and then illuminated with light in the region of the new absorption band, the “activated” crystal gives an instantaneous response in the form of a small electronic conduction; in the dark or for light outside this band it is still non-conducting (Fig. 1).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge Philosophical Society 1934

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References

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