Amplification of the luminescence response in organic materials exposed to ionizing radiation

Polymer-based scintillators present interesting features for the field of ionizing radiation detection, related to the high sensitivity of fluorescence techniques coupled to the manufacturing advantages of such materials. Organic materials can indeed be manufactured into large sensing areas with different geometrical conformations through low-cost fabrication techniques. While results herein presented focus on liquids, the same phenomena would occur in solid samples. Widely used for sensing applications because of its high sensitivity, fluorescence has yet been further improved using technologies yielded by research in photonics. It has already been shown that the use of nanostructuration for sensing applications enables previously unattained sensitivities. Herein we propose a technique based on the manipulation of light using nanostructuration of the detection medium in order to enable the amplification of the sensitive material emission. This amplification of the luminescence signal is aimed at reducing the detection limit of low-energy beta emitters such as tritium, well-known issue of major importance. The first step of our study, presented here, consists in demonstrating the ability of well-known scintillators to emit in laser regime when optically excited in a Distributed Feedback scheme. They are, to our knowledge, the first of their kind. The technique here presented, being usable whatever the sample maximum emission wavelength, should also enable a simplification of the devices based on scintillators.