scintillation

[ sin-tl-ey-shuhn ]

noun

1. the act of scintillating; sparkling.
2. a spark or flash.
3. Astronomy. the twinkling or tremulous effect of the light of the stars.
4. Meteorology. any small-scale twinkling or shimmering of objects that are viewed through the atmosphere, caused by an interception of the observer's line of view by inhomogeneities in the atmospheric refractive index.
5. Physics.
   1. a flash of light from the ionization of a phosphor struck by an energetic photon or particle.
   2. random fluctuation of the amplitude, phase, or polarization of an electromagnetic wave.
6. (on a radar display) a slight, rapid shifting of a spot of light or the image of an object about its mean position.

scintillation

/ ˌsɪntɪˈleɪʃən /

noun

1. the act of scintillating
2. a spark or flash
3. the twinkling of stars or radio sources, caused by rapid changes in the density of the earth's atmosphere, the interplanetary medium, or the interstellar medium, producing uneven refraction of starlight
4. physics a flash of light produced when a material scintillates

Word History and Origins

Origin of scintillation¹

First recorded in 1615–25, scintillation is from the Latin word scintillātiōn- (stem of scintillātiō ). See scintillate, -ion

Example Sentences

With each technological shift, the scintillation of new possibilities meets the tug of obsolescence.

From New York Times

Additionally, organic plastic scintillators suffer from low scintillation yields and low particle radiation tolerances due to their low electron density, which hampers their single-proton detection sensitivity.

From Science Daily

It will be the largest and most sensitive scintillation detector ever built.

From Science Magazine

One novel proposal, called THEIA, combines a water-based detector, like Hyper-K, alongside a “scintillation” detector that is more akin to DUNE—to reap the benefits of both approaches.

From Scientific American

The Tibet ASgamma experiment spotted the photons using an array of nearly 600 scintillation detectors, sensors that turn particle strikes into electronic signals.

From Science Magazine