Simple And Temperature-insensitive Pressure Sensing Based On A Hollow-core Photonic Crystal Fiber

The sensitivity to pressure of lossy air-guided modes in a commercial hollow-core photonic crystal fiber was experimentally exploited to develop a novel pressure sensor. The transmission of these modes was directly modulated by the measurand, which makes the interrogation system very simple. Using a supercontinuum source, these specific modes were identified within the visible spectral range and correspond to narrow transmission windows well away from the fiber's main bandgap, centered around 1550 nm. The origin of these windows is being investigated but is likely to be related to cladding bandgaps. One of these windows, around 633 nm, was used for the analysis presented in this paper. An attenuation increase was observed when pressure was applied to a ∼3-cm long cell, which was traversed by the fiber. The attenuation reached 5 dB with 300kgf/cm2 gauge pressure. The transmission was found to be insensitive to temperature up to 100°C, which is a highly attractive feature for sensing applications. It was also found that much higher sensitivities (a few dB attenuation with ∼0.5kgf/cm2 gauge pressure) could be obtained when pressure was internally applied to the fiber microstructure. This fact allows for the construction of sensors with a wide range of sensitivities, which can, thus, suit different applications. Transmission within the infrared bandgap was insensitive to pressure and can serve as a reference. © American Institute of Physics.1055129132Knight, J.C., (2003) Nature, 424, pp. 847-851Alkeskjold, T.T., Lægsgaard, J., Bjarklev, A., Hermann, D.S., Broeng, J., Li, J., Gauza, S., Wu, S.-T., (2006) Appl. Opt, 45, pp. 2261-2264Cordeiro, C.M.B., de Matos, C.J.S., dos Santos, E.M., Bozolan, A., Ong, J.S.K., Facincani, T., Chesini, G., Brito Cruz, C.H., (2007) Meas. Sci. Technol, 18, pp. 3075-3081Jensen, J.B., Pedersen, L.H., Hoiby, P.E., Nielsen, L.B., Hansen, T.P., Folkenberg, J.R., Riishede, J., Bjarklev, A., (2004) Opt. Lett, 29, pp. 1974-1976Krohn, D.A., Pressure Sensors (2000) Fiber Optic Sensors, pp. 143-151. , Research Triangle Park: Instrument Society of AmericaXu, M.G., Reekie, L., Chow, Y.T., Dakin, J.P., (1993) Electron. Let, 29, pp. 398-399Hsu, Y.S., Wang, L., Fung Liu, W., Chiang, Y.J., (2006) IEEE Photon. Technol. Let, 18, pp. 874-876Nasilowski, T., (2005) Appl. Phys. B, 81, pp. 325-331Bock, W.J., Chen, J., Eftimov, T., Urbanczyk, W., (2006) IEEE T. Instrum. Meas, 55, pp. 874-876Shinde, Y.S., Gahir, H.K., (2008) IEEE Photon. Technol. Let, 20, pp. 279-28

Energy Resolution studies for NEXT

This work aims to present the current state of simulations of electroluminescence (EL) produced in gas-based detectors with special interest for NEXT --- Neutrino Experiment with a Xenon TPC. NEXT is a neutrinoless double beta decay experiment, thus needs outstanding energy resolution which can be achieved by using electroluminescence. The process of light production is reviewed and properties such as EL yield and associated fluctuations, excitation and electroluminescence efficiencies, and energy resolution, are calculated. An EL production region with a 5 mm width gap between two infinite parallel planes is considered, where a uniform electric field is produced. The pressure and temperature considered are 10 bar and 293 K, respectively. The results show that, even for low values of VUV photon detection efficiency, good energy resolution can be achieved: below 0.4 % (FWHM) at $Q_{\beta\beta}=$2.458 MeV

A simulation toolkit for electroluminescence assessment in rare event experiments

A good understanding of electroluminescence is a prerequisite when optimising double-phase noble gas detectors for Dark Matter searches and high-pressure xenon TPCs for neutrinoless double beta decay detection. A simulation toolkit for calculating the emission of light through electron impact on neon, argon, krypton and xenon has been developed using the Magboltz and Garfield programs. Calculated excitation and electroluminescence efficiencies, electroluminescence yield and associated statistical fluctuations are presented as a function of electric field. Good agreement with experiment and with Monte Carlo simulations has been obtained

An improved measurement of electron-ion recombination in high-pressure xenon gas

We report on results obtained with the NEXT-DEMO prototype of the NEXT-100 high-pressure xenon gas time projection chamber (TPC), exposed to an alpha decay calibration source. Compared to our previous measurements with alpha particles, an upgraded detector and improved analysis techniques have been used. We measure event-by-event correlated fluctuations between ionization and scintillation due to electron-ion recombination in the gas, with correlation coeffcients between -0.80 and -0.56 depending on the drift field conditions. By combining the two signals, we obtain a 2.8% FWHM energy resolution for 5.49 MeV alpha particles and a measurement of the optical gain of the electroluminescent TPC. The improved energy resolution also allows us to measure the specific activity of the radon in the gas due to natural impurities. Finally, we measure the average ratio of excited to ionized atoms produced in the xenon gas by alpha particles to be 0:561 0:045, translating into an average energy to produce a primary scintillation photon ofWex = (39:2 3:2) eV.This work was supported by the following agencies and institutions: the European Research Council under the Advanced Grant 339787-NEXT; the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad of Spain under grants CONSOLIDER-Ingenio 2010 CSD2008-0037 (CUP), FPA2009-13697-C04 and FIS2012-37947-C04; the Director, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the US Department of Energy under contract no. DE-AC02-05CH11231; and the Portuguese FCT and FEDER through the program COMPETE, project PTDC/FIS/103860/2008.Serra, L.; Sorel, M.; Alvarez, V.; Borges, FIG.; Camargo, M.; Carcel, S.; Cebrian, S.... (2015). An improved measurement of electron-ion recombination in high-pressure xenon gas. Journal of Instrumentation. 10:1-19. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/10/03/P03025S1191

Results of the material screening program of the NEXT experiment

[EN] The Neutrino Experiment with a Xenon TPC (NEXT), intended to investigate neutrinoless double beta decay, requires extremely low background levels. An extensive material screening and selection process to assess the radioactivity of components is underway combining several techniques, including germanium γ-ray spectrometry performed at the Canfranc Underground Laboratory; recent results of this material screening program are presented here.Dafni, T.; Álvarez-Puerta, V.; Bandac, I.; Bettini, A.; Borges, FIGM.; Camargo, M.; Carcel, S.... (2016). Results of the material screening program of the NEXT experiment. Nuclear and Particle Physics Proceedings. 273-275:2666-2668. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nuclphysbps.2015.10.024S26662668273-27

Microscopic simulation of xenon-based optical TPCs in the presence of molecular additives

[EN] We introduce a simulation framework for the transport of high and low energy electrons in xenon-based optical time projection chambers (OTPCs). The simulation relies on elementary cross sections (electron-atom and electron-molecule) and incorporates, in order to compute the gas scintillation, the reaction/quenching rates (atom-atom and atom-molecule) of the first 41 excited states of xenon and the relevant associated excimers, together with their radiative cascade. The results compare positively with observations made in pure xenon and its mixtures with CO2 and CF4 in a range of pressures from 0.1 to 10 bar. This work sheds some light on the elementary processes responsible for the primary and secondary xenon-scintillation mechanisms in the presence of additives, that are of interest to the OTPC technology.DGD is supported by the Ramon y Cajal program (Spain) under contract number RYC-2015-18820. The authors want to acknowledge the RD51 collaboration for encouragement and support during the elaboration of this work, and in particular discussions with F. Resnati, A. Milov, V. Peskov, M. Suzuki and A. F. Borghesani. The NEXT Collaboration acknowledges support from the following agencies and institutions: the European Research Council (ERC) under the Advanced Grant 339787-NEXT; the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad of Spain under grants FIS2014-53371-C04 and the Severo Ochoa Program SEV-2014-0398; the GVA of Spain under grant PROM-ETEO/2016/120; the Portuguese FCT and FEDER through the program COMPETE, project PTDC/FIS-NUC/2525/2014 and UID/FIS/04559/2013; the U.S. Department of Energy under contracts number DE-AC02-07CH11359 (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory) and DE-FG02-13ER42020 (Texas A& and the University of Texas at Arlington.Azevedo, C.; Gonzalez-Diaz, D.; Biagi, SF.; Oliveira, CAB.; Henriques, CAO.; Escada, J.; Monrabal, F.... (2018). Microscopic simulation of xenon-based optical TPCs in the presence of molecular additives. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A Accelerators Spectrometers Detectors and Associated Equipment. 877:157-172. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2017.08.049S15717287