1. An improved measurement of electron-ion recombination in high-pressure xenon gas
- Author
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NEXT Collaboration, Serra, L., Sorel, M., ��lvarez, V., Borges, F. I. G., Camargo, M., C��rcel, S., Cebri��n, S., Cervera, A., Conde, C. A. N., Dafni, T., D��az, J., Esteve, R., Fernandes, L. M. P., Ferrario, P., Ferreira, A. L., Freitas, E. D. C., Gehman, V. M., Goldschmidt, A., G��mez-Cadenas, J. J., Gonz��lez-D��az, D., Guti��rrez, R. M., Hauptman, J., Morata, J. A. Hernando, Herrera, D. C., Irastorza, I. G., Labarga, L., Laing, A., Liubarsky, I., Lopez-March, N., Lorca, D., Losada, M., Luz��n, G., Mar��, A., Mart��n-Albo, J., Mart��nez-Lema, G., Mart��nez, A., Miller, T., Monrabal, F., Monserrate, M., Monteiro, C. M. B., Mora, F. J., Moutinho, L. M., Vidal, J. Mu��oz, Nebot-Guinot, M., Nygren, D., Oliveira, C. A. B., P��rez, J., Aparicio, J. L. P��rez, Querol, M., Renner, J., Ripoll, L., Rodr��guez, A., Rodr��guez, J., Santos, F. P., Santos, J. M. F. dos, Shuman, D., Sim��n, A., Sofka, C., Toledo, J. F., Torrent, J., Tsamalaidze, Z., Veloso, J. F. C. A., Villar, J. A., Webb, R., White, J. T., and Yahlali, N.
- Subjects
Ionization ,MECANICA DE LOS MEDIOS CONTINUOS Y TEORIA DE ESTRUCTURAS ,Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors ,Physical measurements ,Materials science ,Ionització ,Physics::Instrumentation and Detectors ,Time projection chambers ,Física -- Mesuraments ,FOS: Physical sciences ,chemistry.chemical_element ,Charge transport ,Scintillator ,Nuclear excitation ,01 natural sciences ,7. Clean energy ,High Energy Physics - Experiment ,Ion ,TECNOLOGIA ELECTRONICA ,High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex) ,Gaseous detectors ,Ionization and excitation processes ,Xenon ,0103 physical sciences ,010306 general physics ,Instrumentation ,Detectors de radiació ,Mathematical Physics ,Charge transport and multiplication in gas ,Scintillation ,scintillation and light emission processes (solid, gas and liquid scintillators) ,Time projection chamber ,010308 nuclear & particles physics ,Time projection Chambers (TPC) ,multiplication and electroluminescence in rare gases and liquids ,Instrumentation and Detectors (physics.ins-det) ,Alpha particle ,Double-beta decay detectors ,Electroluminescence ,chemistry ,Nuclear counters ,Scintillators ,Excitació nuclear ,Alpha decay ,Electroluminescència ,Atomic physics - Abstract
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 $0.561\pm 0.045$, translating into an average energy to produce a primary scintillation photon of $W_{\rm ex}=(39.2\pm 3.2)$ eV., Comment: 22 pages, 11 figures, 1 table
- Published
- 2015
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