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Infrared scintillation yield in gaseous and liquid argon
The study of primary and secondary scintillations in noble gases and liquids
is of paramount importance to rare-event experiments using noble gas media. In
the present work, the scintillation yield in gaseous and liquid Ar has for the
first time been measured in the near infrared (NIR) and visible region, both
for primary and secondary (proportional) scintillations, using Geiger-mode
avalanche photodiodes (G-APDs) and pulsed X-ray irradiation. The primary
scintillation yield of the fast component was measured to be 17000 photon/MeV
in gaseous Ar in the NIR, in the range of 690-1000 nm, and 510 photon/MeV in
liquid Ar, in the range of 400-1000 nm. Proportional NIR scintillations
(electroluminescence) in gaseous Ar have been also observed; their
amplification parameter at 163 K was measured to be 13 photons per drifting
electron per kV. Possible applications of NIR scintillations in high energy
physics experiments are discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures. Submitted to Europhysics Letter. Revised Figs. 3
and
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