Recombination Luminescence in the Scintillation of Normal and Superfluid Liquid Helium

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Abstract
The alpha-particle-induced scintillation of liquid helium has been studied experimentally in the temperature range 1.23 to 4.2°K with an electric field (9 to 43 kV/cm) applied in the region of the alpha tracks. Simultaneously with observation of the scintillation intensity, the ion current extracted from the alpha tracks by the field was measured. The results indicate that recombination luminescence accounts for approximately 60% of the total scintillation intensity (with zero electric field) and that this component of the intensity is temperature-independent. However, the ion current extracted by the field and the corresponding reduction in scintillation intensity both have temperature dependences which exhibit anomalous behavior in the He II region.