Study of the loss of xenon scintillation in xenon-trimethylamine mixtures Trindade, A.M.F.; Escada, J.; Cortez, A.F.V. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
10/2018, Letnik:
905, Številka:
C
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
This work investigates the capability of TMA ((CH3)3N) molecules to shift the wavelength of Xe VUV emission (160–188 nm) to a longer, more manageable, wavelength (260–350 nm). Light emitted from a Xe ...lamp was passed through a gas chamber filled with Xe-TMA mixtures at 800 Torr and detected with a photomultiplier tube. Using bandpass filters in the proper transmission ranges, no reemitted light was observed experimentally. Considering the detection limit of the experimental system, if reemission by TMA molecules occurs, it is below 0.3% of the scintillation absorbed in the 160–188 nm range. An absorption coefficient value for xenon VUV light by TMA of 0.43 ± 0.03 cm−1 Torr−1 was also obtained. These results can be especially important for experiments considering TMA as a molecular additive to Xe in large volume optical time projection chambers.
Ionization and scintillation of nuclear recoils in gaseous xenon Renner, J.; Gehman, V.M.; Goldschmidt, A. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
09/2015, Letnik:
793, Številka:
C
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Ionization and scintillation produced by nuclear recoils in gaseous xenon at approximately 14bar have been simultaneously observed in an electroluminescent time projection chamber. Neutrons from ...radioisotope α-Be neutron sources were used to induce xenon nuclear recoils, and the observed recoil spectra were compared to a detailed Monte Carlo employing estimated ionization and scintillation yields for nuclear recoils. The ability to discriminate between electronic and nuclear recoils using the ratio of ionization to primary scintillation is demonstrated. These results encourage further investigation on the use of xenon in the gas phase as a detector medium in dark matter direct detection experiments.
We present evidence of non-excimer-based secondary scintillation in gaseous xenon, obtained using both the NEXT-White time projection chamber (TPC) and a dedicated setup. Detailed comparison with ...first-principle calculations allows us to assign this scintillation mechanism to neutral bremsstrahlung (NBrS), a process that is postulated to exist in xenon that has been largely overlooked. For photon emission below 1000 nm, the NBrS yield increases from about10−2photon/e−cm−1bar−1at pressure-reduced electric field values of50Vcm−1bar−1to above3×10−1photon/e−cm−1bar−1at500Vcm−1bar−1. Above1.5kVcm−1bar−1, values that are typically employed for electroluminescence, it is estimated that NBrS is present with an intensity around1photon/e−cm−1bar−1, which is about 2 orders of magnitude lower than conventional, excimer-based electroluminescence. Despite being fainter than its excimeric counterpart, our calculations reveal that NBrS causes luminous backgrounds that can interfere, in either gas or liquid phase, with the ability to distinguish and/or to precisely measure low primary-scintillation signals (S1). In particular, we show this to be the case in the “buffer” region, where keeping the electric field below the electroluminescence threshold does not suffice to extinguish secondary scintillation. The electric field leakage in this region should be mitigated to avoid intolerable levels of NBrS emission. Furthermore, we show that this new source of light emission opens up a viable path toward obtaining S2 signals for discrimination purposes in future single-phase liquid TPCs for neutrino and dark matter physics, with estimated yields up to20–50photons/e−cm−1.
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