Plasmonic light yield enhancement of a liquid scintillator

We demonstrate modifications to the light yield properties of an organic liquid scintillator due to the localization of the tertiary fluorophore component to the surface of Ag-core silica-shell nanoparticles. We attribute this enhancement to the near-field interaction of Ag nanoparticle plasmons with these fluor molecules. The scintillation light yield enhancement is shown to be equal to the fluorescence enhancement within measurement uncertainties. With a suitable choice of plasmon energy and scintillation fluor, this effect may be used to engineer scintillators with enhanced light yields for radiation detection applications. © 2013, AIP Publishing LLC