Absolute number of scintillation photons emitted by alpha particles in rare gases

Saito, Kiwamu; Tawara, H.; Sanami, Toshiya; Shibamura, Eido; Sasaki, Shin‐ichi

doi:10.1109/tns.2002.801700

Cited by 31 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Figure 1 shows the scintillation spectra of all five noble elements along with the percent transmittance of several common optical window materials. The data presented in Figure 1 are reproduced from References [16][17][18][19]. Each spectrum has been normalized to unit area to facilitate comparison of their shapes.…”

Section: Noble Element Scintillationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fluorescence efficiency and visible re-emission spectrum of tetraphenyl butadiene films at extreme ultraviolet wavelengths

Gehman

Seibert

Rielage

et al. 2011

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A:

146

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A large number of current and future experiments in neutrino and dark matter detection use the scintillation light from noble elements as a mechanism for measuring energy deposition. The scintillation light from these elements is produced in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) range, from 60-200 nm. Currently, the most practical technique for observing light at these wavelengths is to surround the scintillation volume with a thin film of Tetraphenyl Butadiene (TPB) to act as a fluor. The TPB film absorbs EUV photons and reemits visible photons, detectable with a variety of commercial photosensors. Here we present a measurement of the re-emission spectrum of TPB films when illuminated with 128, 160, 175, and 250 nm light. We also measure the fluorescence efficiency as a function of incident wavelength from 120 to 250 nm.

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Section: Noble Element Scintillationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fluorescence efficiency and visible re-emission spectrum of tetraphenyl butadiene films at extreme ultraviolet wavelengths

Gehman

Seibert

Rielage

et al. 2011

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A:

146

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“…The mean number of VUV scintillation photons reaching the PMTs in the array was estimated using the QE measurements provided by Hamamatsu. The mean of the α-particle spectrum corresponds to ∼ 2000 photons per decay incident on the central (reference) PMT, and ∼ 1000 Figure 4: Measured scintillation spectra for liquid (violet) [16] and gaseous (blue) [28,29] xenon, along with the (room temperature) gaseous xenon electroluminescence spectrum (yellow) [17], MgF 2 transmittance (black) [27,28], R11410-22 KB1049 PMT relative response (red) and Hamamatsu filtered deuterium lamp spectrum at 175 nm (violet-dashed).…”

Section: Xenon Scintillation Cellmentioning

confidence: 99%

Response of photomultiplier tubes to xenon scintillation light

Paredes

Araújo

Froborg

et al. 2018

Astroparticle Physics

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We present the precision calibration of 35 Hamamatsu R11410-22 photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) with xenon scintillation light centred near 175 nm. This particular PMT variant was developed specifically for the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) dark matter experiment. A room-temperature xenon scintillation cell coupled to a vacuum cryostat was used to study the full-face PMT response at both room and low temperature (∼ −100 • C), in particular to determine the quantum efficiency (QE) and double photoelectron emission (DPE) probability in LZ operating conditions. For our sample with an average QE of (32.4±2.9)% at room temperature, we find a relative improvement of (17.9±5.2)% upon cooling (where uncertainty values refer to the sample standard deviation). The mean DPE probability in response to single vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photons is (22.6±2.0)% at low temperature; the DPE increase relative to room temperature, measured here for the first time, was (12.2±3.9)%. Evidence of a small triple photoelectron emission probability (∼0.6%) has also been observed. Useful correlations are established between these parameters and the QE as measured by the manufacturer. The single VUV photon response is also measured for one ETEL D730/9829QB, a PMT with a more standard bialkali photocathode used in the ZEPLIN-III experiment, for which we obtained a cold DPE fraction of (9.1±0.1)%. Hence, we confirm that this effect is not restricted to the low-temperature bialkali photocathode technology employed by Hamamatsu. This highlights the importance of considering this phenomenon in the interpretation of data from liquid xenon scintillation and electroluminescence detectors, and from many other optical measurements in this wavelength region.

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“…Recently, liquid noble gas detectors have played a significant role in efforts to detect the neutrino mass and magnetic moment, and dark matter candidates, such as weakly interacting massive particles 19 . Few sources provide data on the absolute scintillation yields of gas-phase noble gas scintillators [20][21][22] , and the data from these sources are inconsistent. For this study, we constructed an apparatus with a well-defined geometry and carefully characterized the experimental parameters.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Noble gas excimer scintillation following neutron capture in boron thin films

McComb

Coplan

Al-Sheikhly

et al. 2014

Journal of Applied Physics

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Far-ultraviolet scintillation signals have been measured in heavy noble gases (argon, krypton, xenon) following boron-neutron capture (10B(n,α)7Li) in 10B thin films. The observed scintillation yields are comparable to the yields from some liquid and solid neutron scintillators. At noble gas pressures of 107 kPa, the number of photons produced per neutron absorbed following irradiation of a 1200 nm thick 10B film was 14 000 for xenon, 11 000 for krypton, and 6000 for argon. The absolute scintillation yields from the experimental configuration were calculated using data from (1) experimental irradiations, (2) thin-film characterizations, (3) photomultiplier tube calibrations, and (4) photon collection modeling. Both the boron films and the photomultiplier tube were characterized at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Monte Carlo modeling of the reaction cell provided estimates of the photon collection efficiency and the transport behavior of 10B(n,α)7Li reaction products escaping the thin films. Scintillation yields increased with gas pressure due to increased ionization and excitation densities of the gases from the 10B(n,α)7Li reaction products, increased frequency of three-body, excimer-forming collisions, and reduced photon emission volumes (i.e., larger solid angle) at higher pressures. Yields decreased for thicker 10B thin films due to higher average energy loss of the 10B(n,α)7Li reaction products escaping the films. The relative standard uncertainties in the measurements were determined to lie between 14% and 16%. The observed scintillation signal demonstrates that noble gas excimer scintillation is promising for use in practical neutron detectors.

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Absolute number of scintillation photons emitted by alpha particles in rare gases

Cited by 31 publications

References 8 publications

Fluorescence efficiency and visible re-emission spectrum of tetraphenyl butadiene films at extreme ultraviolet wavelengths

Fluorescence efficiency and visible re-emission spectrum of tetraphenyl butadiene films at extreme ultraviolet wavelengths

Response of photomultiplier tubes to xenon scintillation light

Noble gas excimer scintillation following neutron capture in boron thin films

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