487 research outputs found
Performance evaluation of novel square-bordered position-sensitive silicon detectors with four-corner readout
We report on a recently developed novel type of large area (62 mm x 62 mm)
position sensitive silicon detector with four-corner readout. It consists of a
square-shaped ion-implanted resistive anode framed by additional
low-resistivity strips with resistances smaller than the anode surface
resistance by a factor of 2. The detector position linearity, position
resolution, and energy resolution were measured with alpha-particles and heavy
ions. In-beam experimental results reveal a position resolution below 1 mm
(FWHM) and a very good non-linearity of less than 1% (rms). The energy
resolution determined from 228Th alpha source measurements is around 2% (FWHM).Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, submitted to Nucl. Instr. and Meth.
Demonstration and Comparison of Operation of Photomultiplier Tubes at Liquid Argon Temperature
Liquified noble gases are widely used as a target in direct Dark Matter
searches. Signals from scintillation in the liquid, following energy deposition
from the recoil nuclei scattered by Dark Matter particles (e.g. WIMPs), should
be recorded down to very low energies by photosensors suitably designed to
operate at cryogenic temperatures. Liquid Argon based detectors for Dark Matter
searches currently implement photo multiplier tubes for signal read-out. In the
last few years PMTs with photocathodes operating down to liquid Argon
temperatures (87 K) have been specially developed with increasing Quantum
Efficiency characteristics. The most recent of these, Hamamatsu Photonics Mod.
R11065 with peak QE up to about 35%, has been extensively tested within the R&D
program of the WArP Collaboration. During these testes the Hamamatsu PMTs
showed superb performance and allowed obtaining a light yield around 7
phel/keVee in a Liquid Argon detector with a photocathodic coverage in the 12%
range, sufficient for detection of events down to few keVee of energy
deposition. This shows that this new type of PMT is suited for experimental
applications, in particular for new direct Dark Matter searches with LAr-based
experiments
Absorption of Scintillation Light in a 100 Liquid Xenon Ray Detector and Expected Detector Performance
An 800L liquid xenon scintillation ray detector is being developed
for the MEG experiment which will search for decay
at the Paul Scherrer Institut. Absorption of scintillation light of xenon by
impurities might possibly limit the performance of such a detector. We used a
100L prototype with an active volume of 372x372x496 mm to study the
scintillation light absorption. We have developed a method to evaluate the
light absorption, separately from elastic scattering of light, by measuring
cosmic rays and sources. By using a suitable purification technique,
an absorption length longer than 100 cm has been achieved. The effects of the
light absorption on the energy resolution are estimated by Monte Carlo
simulation.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures (eps). Submitted to Nucl. Instr. and Meth.
Design and Performance of the XENON10 Dark Matter Experiment
XENON10 is the first two-phase xenon time projection chamber (TPC) developed
within the XENON dark matter search program. The TPC, with an active liquid
xenon (LXe) mass of about 14 kg, was installed at the Gran Sasso underground
laboratory (LNGS) in Italy, and operated for more than one year, with excellent
stability and performance. Results from a dark matter search with XENON10 have
been published elsewhere. In this paper, we summarize the design and
performance of the detector and its subsystems, based on calibration data using
sources of gamma-rays and neutrons as well as background and Monte Carlo
simulations data. The results on the detector's energy threshold, energy and
position resolution, and overall efficiency show a performance that exceeds
design specifications, in view of the very low energy threshold achieved (<10
keVr) and the excellent energy resolution achieved by combining the ionization
and scintillation signals, detected simultaneously
Self-shielding effect of a single phase liquid xenon detector for direct dark matter search
Liquid xenon is a suitable material for a dark matter search. For future
large scale experiments, single phase detectors are attractive due to their
simple configuration and scalability. However, in order to reduce backgrounds,
they need to fully rely on liquid xenon's self-shielding property. A prototype
detector was developed at Kamioka Observatory to establish vertex and energy
reconstruction methods and to demonstrate the self-shielding power against
gamma rays from outside of the detector. Sufficient self-shielding power for
future experiments was obtained.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure
New constraint on the existence of the mu+-> e+ gamma decay
The analysis of a combined data set, totaling 3.6 \times 10^14 stopped muons
on target, in the search for the lepton flavour violating decay mu^+ -> e^+
gamma is presented. The data collected by the MEG experiment at the Paul
Scherrer Institut show no excess of events compared to background expectations
and yield a new upper limit on the branching ratio of this decay of 5.7 \times
10^-13 (90% confidence level). This represents a four times more stringent
limit than the previous world best limit set by MEG.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, a version accepted in Phys. Rev. Let
The MEG detector for decay search
The MEG (Mu to Electron Gamma) experiment has been running at the Paul
Scherrer Institut (PSI), Switzerland since 2008 to search for the decay \meg\
by using one of the most intense continuous beams in the world. This
paper presents the MEG components: the positron spectrometer, including a thin
target, a superconducting magnet, a set of drift chambers for measuring the
muon decay vertex and the positron momentum, a timing counter for measuring the
positron time, and a liquid xenon detector for measuring the photon energy,
position and time. The trigger system, the read-out electronics and the data
acquisition system are also presented in detail. The paper is completed with a
description of the equipment and techniques developed for the calibration in
time and energy and the simulation of the whole apparatus.Comment: 59 pages, 90 figure
Results of the Search for Strange Quark Matter and Q-balls with the SLIM Experiment
The SLIM experiment at the Chacaltaya high altitude laboratory was sensitive
to nuclearites and Q-balls, which could be present in the cosmic radiation as
possible Dark Matter components. It was sensitive also to strangelets, i.e.
small lumps of Strange Quark Matter predicted at such altitudes by various
phenomenological models. The analysis of 427 m^2 of Nuclear Track Detectors
exposed for 4.22 years showed no candidate event. New upper limits on the flux
of downgoing nuclearites and Q-balls at the 90% C.L. were established. The null
result also restricts models for strangelets propagation through the Earth
atmosphere.Comment: 14 pages, 11 EPS figure
Experimental Bounds on Masses and Fluxes of Nontopological Solitons
We have re-analyzed the results of various experiments which were not
originally interested as searches for the Q-ball or the Fermi-ball. Based on
these analyses, in addition to the available data on Q-balls, we obtained
rather stringent bounds on flux, mass and typical energy scale of Q-balls as
well as Fermi-balls. In case these nontopological solitons are the main
component of the dark matter of the Galaxy, we found that only such solitons
with very large quantum numbers are allowed. We also estimate how sensitive
future experiments will be in the search for Q-balls and Fermi-balls.Comment: 19 pages, 7 eps figures, RevTeX, psfig.st
Measurement of the scintillation time spectra and pulse-shape discrimination of low-energy beta and nuclear recoils in liquid argon with DEAP-1
The DEAP-1 low-background liquid argon detector was used to measure
scintillation pulse shapes of electron and nuclear recoil events and to
demonstrate the feasibility of pulse-shape discrimination (PSD) down to an
electron-equivalent energy of 20 keV.
In the surface dataset using a triple-coincidence tag we found the fraction
of beta events that are misidentified as nuclear recoils to be (90% C.L.) for energies between 43-86 keVee and for a nuclear recoil
acceptance of at least 90%, with 4% systematic uncertainty on the absolute
energy scale. The discrimination measurement on surface was limited by nuclear
recoils induced by cosmic-ray generated neutrons. This was improved by moving
the detector to the SNOLAB underground laboratory, where the reduced background
rate allowed the same measurement with only a double-coincidence tag.
The combined data set contains events. One of those, in the
underground data set, is in the nuclear-recoil region of interest. Taking into
account the expected background of 0.48 events coming from random pileup, the
resulting upper limit on the electronic recoil contamination is
(90% C.L.) between 44-89 keVee and for a nuclear recoil
acceptance of at least 90%, with 6% systematic uncertainty on the absolute
energy scale.
We developed a general mathematical framework to describe PSD parameter
distributions and used it to build an analytical model of the distributions
observed in DEAP-1. Using this model, we project a misidentification fraction
of approx. for an electron-equivalent energy threshold of 15 keV for
a detector with 8 PE/keVee light yield. This reduction enables a search for
spin-independent scattering of WIMPs from 1000 kg of liquid argon with a
WIMP-nucleon cross-section sensitivity of cm, assuming
negligible contribution from nuclear recoil backgrounds.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physic
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