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

Rovibrational dynamics of the strontium molecule in the A^1\Sigma_u^+, c^3\Pi_u, and a^3\Sigma_u^+ manifold from state-of-the-art ab initio calculations

State-of-the-art ab initio techniques have been applied to compute the potential energy curves for the electronic states in the A^1\Sigma_u^+, c^3\Pi_u, and a^3\Sigma_u^+ manifold of the strontium dimer, the spin-orbit and nonadiabatic coupling matrix elements between the states in the manifold, and the electric transition dipole moment from the ground X^1\Sigma_g^+ to the nonrelativistic and relativistic states in the A+c+a manifold. The potential energy curves and transition moments were obtained with the linear response (equation of motion) coupled cluster method limited to single, double, and linear triple excitations for the potentials and limited to single and double excitations for the transition moments. The spin-orbit and nonadiabatic coupling matrix elements were computed with the multireference configuration interaction method limited to single and double excitations. Our results for the nonrelativistic and relativistic (spin-orbit coupled) potentials deviate substantially from recent ab initio calculations. The potential energy curve for the spectroscopically active (1)0_u^+ state is in quantitative agreement with the empirical potential fitted to high-resolution Fourier transform spectra [A. Stein, H. Knoeckel, and E. Tiemann, Eur. Phys. J. D 64, 227 (2011)]. The computed ab initio points were fitted to physically sound analytical expressions, and used in converged coupled channel calculations of the rovibrational energy levels in the A+c+a manifold and line strengths for the A^1\Sigma_u^+ <-- X^1\Sigma_g^+ transitions. Positions and lifetimes of quasi-bound Feshbach resonances lying above the ^1S + ^3P_1 dissociation limit were also obtained. Our results reproduce (semi)quantitatively the experimental data observed thus far. Predictions for on-going and future experiments are also reported.Comment: Final version, accepted for publication in Journal of Chemical Physic

State to State He-CO Rotationally Inelastic Scattering

Relative integral cross sections for rotational excitation of CO in collisions with He were measured at energies of 72 and 89 meV. The cross sections are sensitive to anisotrophy in the repulsive wall of the He-CO interaction. The experiments were done in crossed molecular beams with resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization detection. The observed cross sections display interference structure at low Δj, despite the average over the initial CO rotational distribution. At higher Δj, the cross sections decrease smoothly. The results are compared with cross sections calculated from two high quality potential energy surfaces for the He-CO interaction. The ab initio SAPT surface of Heijmen et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 107, 9921 (1997)] agrees with the data better than the XC(fit) surface of Le Roy et al. [Farad. Disc. 97, 81 (1994)]

State to State Ne-CO Rotationally Inelastic Scattering

Measurements of state-to-state integral cross sections for rotational excitation of CO by collisions with Ne are reported. The measurements were performed in crossed molecular beams with resonance enhanced multiphoton detection at collision energies of 711 and 797 cm-1. The cross sections display strong interference structure, with a propensity for odd Δj below Δj=10. Predictions of the ab initio potential surface of Moszynski et al. [J. Phys. Chem. A 101, 4690 (1997)] and the new ab initio surface of McBane and Cybulski [J. Chem. Phys. 110, 11734 (1999), preceding paper] are compared to the data. The new surface agrees more closely with the observed interference structure, although significant disagreements remain

Interaction between LiH molecule and Li atom from state-of-the-art electronic structure calculations

State-of-the-art ab initio techniques have been applied to compute the potential energy surface for the lithium atom interacting with the lithium hydride molecule in the Born–Oppenheimer approximation. The interaction potential was obtained using a combination of the explicitly correlated unrestricted coupled-cluster method with single, double, and noniterative triple excitations [UCCSD(T)-F12] for the core–core and core–valence correlation and full configuration interaction for the valence–valence correlation. The potential energy surface has a global minimum 8743 cm−1 deep if the Li–H bond length is held fixed at the monomer equilibrium distance or 8825 cm−1 deep if it is allowed to vary. In order to evaluate the performance of the conventional CCSD(T) approach, calculations were carried out using correlation-consistent polarized valence X-tuple-zeta basis sets, with X ranging from 2 to 5, and a very large set of bond functions. Using simple two-point extrapolations based on the single-power laws X−2 and X−3 for the orbital basis sets, we were able to reproduce the CCSD(T)–F12 results for the characteristic points of the potential with an error of 0.49% at worst. The contribution beyond the CCSD(T)–F12 model, obtained from full configuration interaction calculations for the valence–valence correlation, was shown to be very small, and the error bars on the potential were estimated. At linear LiH–Li geometries, the ground-state potential shows an avoided crossing with an ion-pair potential. The energy difference between the ground-state and excited-state potentials at the avoided crossing is only 94 cm−1. Using both adiabatic and diabatic pictures, we analyze the interaction between the two potential energy surfaces and its possible impact on the collisional dynamics. When the Li–H bond is allowed to vary, a seam of conical intersections appears at C2v geometries. At the linear LiH–Li geometry, the conical intersection is at a Li–H distance which is only slightly larger than the monomer equilibrium distance, but for nonlinear geometries it quickly shifts to Li–H distances that are well outside the classical turning points of the ground-state potential of LiH. This suggests that the conical intersection will have little impact on the dynamics of Li–LiH collisions at ultralow temperatures. Finally, the reaction channels for the exchange and insertion reactions are also analyzed and found to be unimportant for the dynamics