Radiation Protection Glossary

With respect to Radiation Protection , scintillation is the process where by a material will emit light Photons when exposed to Ionising Radiation . The light photons can be measured with a photo-multiplier tube which will multiply the events to produce an electrical signal or pulse. The pulse can be counted to give an indication of the magnitude of the incoming radiation. Materials that have scintillation properties include Zinc Sulphide (used in many Alpha emission detectors), Sodium Iodide (used in many X-Rays / Gamma emitter surveying probes), and scintillant cocktails (used in Liquid Scintillation Counting).