94 research outputs found
Scintillation-only Based Pulse Shape Discrimination for Nuclear and Electron Recoils in Liquid Xenon
In a dedicated test setup at the Kamioka Observatory we studied pulse shape
discrimination (PSD) in liquid xenon (LXe) for dark matter searches. PSD in LXe
was based on the observation that scintillation light from electron events was
emitted over a longer period of time than that of nuclear recoil events, and
our method used a simple ratio of early to total scintillation light emission
in a single scintillation event. Requiring an efficiency of 50% for nuclear
recoil retention we reduced the electron background to 7.7\pm1.1(stat)\pm1.2
0.6(sys)\times10-2 at energies between 4.8 and 7.2 keVee and to
7.7\pm2.8(stat)\pm2.5 2.8(sys)\times10-3 at energies between 9.6 and 12 keVee
for a scintillation light yield of 20.9 p.e./keV. Further study was done by
masking some of that light to reduce this yield to 4.6 p.e./keV, the same
method results in an electron event reduction of 2.4\pm0.2(stat)\pm0.3
0.2(sys)\times10-1 for the lower of the energy regions above. We also observe
that in contrast to nuclear recoils the fluctuations in our early to total
ratio for electron events are larger than expected from statistical
fluctuations.Comment: 25 pages, 15 figure
Demonstration of a Lightguide Detector for Liquid Argon TPCs
We report demonstration of light detection in liquid argon using an acrylic
lightguide detector system. This opens the opportunity for development of an
inexpensive, large-area light collection system for large liquid argon time
projection chambers. The guides are constructed of acrylic, with TPB embedded
in a surface coating with a matching index of refraction. We study the response
to early scintillation light produced by a 5.3 MeV alpha. We measure coating
responses from 7 to 8 PE on average, compared to an ideal expectation of 10 PE
on average. We estimate the attenuation length of light along the lightguide
bar to be greater than 0.5 m. The coating response and the attenuation length
can be improved; we show, however, that these results are already sufficient
for triggering in a large detector
Performance of a Large Area Avalanche Photodiode in a Liquid Xenon Ionization and Scintillation Chamber
Scintillation light produced in liquid xenon (LXe) by alpha particles,
electrons and gamma-rays was detected with a large area avalanche photodiode
(LAAPD) immersed in the liquid. The alpha scintillation yield was measured as a
function of applied electric field. We estimate the quantum efficiency of the
LAAPD to be 45%. The best energy resolution from the light measurement at zero
electric field is 7.5%(sigma) for 976 keV internal conversion electrons from
Bi-207 and 2.6%(sigma) for 5.5 MeV alpha particles from Am-241. The detector
used for these measurements was also operated as a gridded ionization chamber
to measure the charge yield. We confirm that using a LAAPD in LXe does not
introduce impurities which inhibit the drifting of free electrons.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figure
A New Analysis Method for WIMP searches with Dual-Phase Liquid Xe TPCs
A new data analysis method based on physical observables for WIMP dark matter
searches with noble liquid Xe dual-phase TPCs is presented. Traditionally, the
nuclear recoil energy from a scatter in the liquid target has been estimated by
means of the initial prompt scintillation light (S1) produced at the
interaction vertex. The ionization charge (C2), or its secondary scintillation
(S2), is combined with the primary scintillation in Log(S2/S1) vs. S1 only as a
discrimination parameter against electron recoil background. Arguments in favor
of C2 as the more reliable nuclear recoil energy estimator than S1 are
presented. The new phase space of Log(S1/C2) vs. C2 is introduced as more
efficient for nuclear recoil acceptance and exhibiting superior energy
resolution. This is achieved without compromising the discrimination power of
the LXe TPC, nor its 3D event reconstruction and fiducialization capability, as
is the case for analyses that exploit only the ionization channel. Finally, the
concept of two independent energy estimators for background rejection is
presented: E2 as the primary (based on C2) and E1 as the secondary (based on
S1). Log(E1/E2) vs. E2 is shown to be the most appropriate phase space in which
to evaluate WIMP signal candidates
The scintillation and ionization yield of liquid xenon for nuclear recoils
XENON10 is an experiment designed to directly detect particle dark matter. It
is a dual phase (liquid/gas) xenon time-projection chamber with 3D position
imaging. Particle interactions generate a primary scintillation signal (S1) and
ionization signal (S2), which are both functions of the deposited recoil energy
and the incident particle type. We present a new precision measurement of the
relative scintillation yield \leff and the absolute ionization yield Q_y, for
nuclear recoils in xenon. A dark matter particle is expected to deposit energy
by scattering from a xenon nucleus. Knowledge of \leff is therefore crucial for
establishing the energy threshold of the experiment; this in turn determines
the sensitivity to particle dark matter. Our \leff measurement is in agreement
with recent theoretical predictions above 15 keV nuclear recoil energy, and the
energy threshold of the measurement is 4 keV. A knowledge of the ionization
yield \Qy is necessary to establish the trigger threshold of the experiment.
The ionization yield \Qy is measured in two ways, both in agreement with
previous measurements and with a factor of 10 lower energy threshold.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures. To be published in Nucl. Instrum. Methods
Characterization of the QUartz Photon Intensifying Detector (QUPID) for Noble Liquid Detectors
Dark Matter and Double Beta Decay experiments require extremely low
radioactivity within the detector materials. For this purpose, the University
of California, Los Angeles and Hamamatsu Photonics have developed the QUartz
Photon Intensifying Detector (QUPID), an ultra-low background photodetector
based on the Hybrid Avalanche Photo Diode (HAPD) and entirely made of
ultraclean synthetic fused silica. In this work we present the basic concept of
the QUPID and the testing measurements on QUPIDs from the first production
line. Screening of radioactivity at the Gator facility in the Laboratori
Nazionali del Gran Sasso has shown that the QUPIDs safely fulfill the low
radioactive contamination requirements for the next generation zero background
experiments set by Monte Carlo simulations. The quantum efficiency of the QUPID
at room temperature is > 30% at the xenon scintillation wavelength. At low
temperatures, the QUPID shows a leakage current less than 1 nA and a global
gain of 10^5. In these conditions, the photocathode and the anode show > 95%
linearity up to 1 uA for the cathode and 3 mA for the anode. The photocathode
and collection efficiency are uniform to 80% over the entire surface. In
parallel with single photon counting capabilities, the QUPIDs have a good
timing response: 1.8 +/- 0.1 ns rise time, 2.5 +/- 0.2 ns fall time, 4.20 +/-
0.05 ns pulse width, and 160 +/- 30 ps transit time spread. The QUPIDs have
also been tested in a liquid xenon environment, and scintillation light from
57Co and 210Po radioactive sources were observed.Comment: 15 pages, 22 figure
Dose and energy dependence of mechanical properties of focused electron beam induced pillar deposits from Cu(C5HF6O2)2
Bending and vibration tests performed inside the scanning electron microscope
were used to mechanically characterize high-aspect pillars grown by focused
electron-beam (FEB) induced deposition from the precursor Cu(C5HF6O2)2.
Supported by finite element (FE) analysis the Young's modulus was determined
from load-deflection measurements using cantilever-based force sensing and the
material density from additional resonance vibration analysis. The pillar
material consisted of a carbonaceous (C, O, F, H containing) matrix which
embeds 5...10 at. % Cu deposited at 5 keV and 20 keV primary electron energy
and 100 pA beam current, depending on primary electron energy. Young's moduli
of the FEB deposits increased from 17+/-6 GPa to 25+/-8 GPa with increasing
electron dose. The density of the carbonaceous matrix shows a dependence on the
primary electron energy: 1.2+/-0.3 g cm-3 (5 keV) and 2.2+/-0.5 g cm-3 (20
keV). At a given primary energy a correlation with the irradiation dose is
found. Quality factors determined from the phase relation at resonance of the
fundamental pillar vibration mode were in the range of 150 to 600 and
correlated to the deposited irradiation energy.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures, 2 table
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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Characteristics of Cu stabilized Nb3Al strands with low Cu ratio
Characteristics of recently developed F4-Nb{sub 3}Al strand with low Cu ratio are described. The overall J{sub c} of the Nb{sub 3}Al strand could be easily increased by decreasing of the Cu ratio. Although the quench of a pulse-like voltage generation is usually observed in superconducting unstable conductor, the F4 strand with a low Cu ratio of 0.61 exhibited an ordinary critical transition of gradual voltage generation. The F4 strand does not have magnetic instabilities at 4.2 K because of the tantalum interfilament matrix. The overall J{sub c} of the F4 strand achieved was 80-85% of the RRP strand. In the large mechanical stress above 100 MPa, the overall J{sub c} of the F4 strand might be comparable to that of high J{sub c} RRP-Nb{sub 3}Sn strands. The Rutherford cable with a high packing factor of 86.5% has been fabricated using F4 strands. The small racetrack magnet, SR07, was also fabricated by a 14 m F4 cable. The quench current, I{sub q}, of SR07 were obtained 22.4 kA at 4.5 K and 25.2 kA at 2.2 K. The tantalum matrix Nb{sub 3}Al strands are promising for the application of super-cooled high-field magnets as well as 4.2 K operation magnets
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