Near-intrinsic energy resolution for 30-662 keV gamma rays in a high pressure xenon electroluminescent TPC

We present the design, data and results from the NEXT prototype for Double Beta and Dark Matter (NEXT-DBDM) detector, a high-pressure gaseous natural xenon electroluminescent time projection chamber (TPC) that was built at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. It is a prototype of the planned NEXT-100 136Xe neutrino-less double beta decay (0νββ) experiment with the main objectives of demonstrating near-intrinsic energy resolution at energies up to 662 keV and of optimizing the NEXT-100 detector design and operating parameters. Energy resolutions of ∼1% FWHM for 662 keV gamma rays were obtained at 10 and 15 atm and ∼5% FWHM for 30 keV fluorescence xenon X-rays. These results demonstrate that 0.5% FWHM resolutions for the 2,459 keV hypothetical neutrino-less double beta decay peak are realizable. This energy resolution is a factor 7 to 20 better than that of the current leading 0νββ experiments using liquid xenon and thus represents a significant advancement. We present also first results from a track imaging system consisting of 64 silicon photo-multipliers recently installed in NEXT-DBDM that, along with the excellent energy resolution, demonstrates the key functionalities required for the NEXT-100 0νββ search

Ionization and scintillation of nuclear recoils in gaseous xenon

Abstract Ionization and scintillation produced by nuclear recoils in gaseous xenon at approximately 14 bar 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.This work was supported by the following agencies and institutions: the Director, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the U.S. Department of Energy, and the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy, both under Contract no. DE-AC02-05CH11231; the European Research Council under the Advanced Grant 339787-NEXT; the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad of Spain under Grants CONSOLIDER-Ingenio 2010 C5D2008-0037 (CUP), FPA2009-13697-004-04, FPA2009-13697-C04-01, FIS2012-37947-C04-01, FIS2012-37947-C04-02, FIS2012-37947-C04-03, and FIS2012-37947-C04-04; and the Portuguese FCT and FEDER through the program COMPETE, Projects PTDC/FIS/103860/2008 and PTDC/FIS/112272/2009. J. Renner acknowledges the support of a Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration Stewardship Science Graduate Fellowship, grant number DE-FC52-08NA28752.Renner, J.; Gehman, VM.; Goldschmidt, A.; Matis, HS.; Miller, T.; Nakajima, Y.; Nygren, D.... (2015). Ionization and scintillation of nuclear recoils in gaseous xenon. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment. 793:62-74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2015.04.057S627479

Xenon GPSC high-pressure operation with large-area avalanche photodiode readout

The performance of a xenon high-pressure gas proportional scintillation counter (GPSC) instrumented with a large area avalanche photodiode (LAAPD) as the VUV-photosensor has been investigated for filling pressures from 1 up to 10 bar, for 22- and 60-keV photons. The LAAPD photosensor is placed directly within the xenon envelope, as a substitute for the photomultiplier tube, avoiding the constraints of the use of a quartz scintillation window for GPSC-photosensor coupling, which absorbs a significant amount of scintillation and is a drawback for applications where large detection areas and high filling pressures are needed. The lowest energy resolutions are achieved for pressures around 5 bar (4.5% and 3.0% full width at half-maximum (FWHM), for 22- and 60-keV photons, respectively). Increasing the pressure to the 8 bar range, competitive energy resolutions of 5.0% and 3.6% are still achieved for 22- and 60-keV photons, respectively. This detector could be a compelling alternative in applications where compactness, large detection area, insensitivity to strong magnetic fields, room temperature operation, large signal-to-noise ratio and good energy resolution are important requirements.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6TJM-4N7XP3B-2/1/b0382cbbf64836cc7a6321fb3255cf3

Produção de mudas de alface, pepino e pimentão em substratos combinando areia, solo e Plantmax® Production of lettuce, cucumber and sweet pepper seedlings in substrate with different combinations of sand, soil and Plantmax®

O efeito do substrato comercial Plantmax®; e sua combinação com solo e areia, foi avaliado de acordo com a resposta biológica de três culturas olerícolas (alface, pepino e pimentão), sendo o experimento conduzido em casa de vegetação na ESALQ/USP em Piracicaba de abril a junho de 1996. Os tratamentos consistiram do substrato comercial Plantmax®; e da mistura deste com areia, com solo, na proporção 1:1 em volume, e mistura dos três, proporção 1:1:1. O substrato Plantmax®; propiciou menor velocidade de emergência para alface e pepino e maior para pimentão. Resultou, também, em maior altura de plântulas nas três diferentes culturas. O menor comprimento de raízes das três olerícolas foi obtido com o substrato Plantmax®; + solo + areia. A maior produção de matéria seca de plântulas e raízes de alface e de pimentão foram obtidas com o substrato Plantmax®;. Por outro lado, a menor produção de matéria seca foi obtida com a mistura dos três componentes para a cultura do pepino. O desempenho obtido nas misturas de Plantmax®; com solo ou com areia, indicam ser uma alternativa técnica viável ao uso de substratos comerciais<br>The effect of commercial substrate Plantmax®; and it's combination with soil and sand, was evaluated according to the biological response of three vegetable crops (lettuce, cucumber and sweet pepper). The experiment was carried out in plastic tunnels, at ESALQ/USP, Piracicaba-SP, from April to June, 1996. The treatments consisted of the commercial substrate Plantmax®;, the mixture of Plantmax®; with sand, Plantmax®;with soil and the mixture of Plantmax®;with both soil and sand. Lower lettuce and cucumber seedlings emergence and faster sweet pepper seedlings emergence were observed with Plantmax®; substrate. It also resulted in bigger size of seedlings of these three different plant species. Smaller roots of these three species were observed with the mixture of Plantmax®; plus soil plus sand. Higher production of seedling dry matter in lettuce and sweet pepper was obtained with the Plantmax®; substrate. Lower cucumber seedling dry matter production was obtained with the mixture of these three substrates. The performance obtained with the mixture of Plantmax®; with soil or sand, indicates it as a viable alternative to the use of commercial substrat