Quenching of benzene fluorescence in pulsed proton irradiation. Temperature dependence

Dilute solutions of benzene in cyclohexane were irradiated with subnanosecond pulses of protons and changes in the time-resolved emission are studied as a function of temperature. Measurements were also made for ultraviolet excitation and the activation energy for quenching by solvent perturbations is compared to other values reported in the literature. An analysis of the radioluminescence data based on dynamic quenching of excited states by proton induced free radicals suggests that most of the temperature dependence is from thermally activated solvent perturbations present under both proton and ultraviolet excitation. The experimental measurements are compared to model predictions and the temperature dependence of model parameters is discussed