Foreword. Preface. Acknowledgements. 1 Introduction. 1.1 Units and Definitions. 1.2 Brief History of Noble Gas Detectors. 2 Noble Fluids as Detector Media. 2.1 Physical Properties of Dense Noble Gases. 2.2 Energy Dissipation in Noble Gases. 2.3 Ionization Clusters and Principal Limitations on Position Resolution of Noble Gas Detectors. 2.4 Ionization and Recombination. 2.4.1 Jaffe Model of Recombination. 2.4.2 Onsager Model of Recombination. 2.4.3 Influence of a-Electrons. 2.5 Principal Limitations for Energy Resolution. 2.6 Detection of Nuclear Recoils. 2.7 Detection of High-Energy Particles. 3 Elementary Processes Affecting Generation of Signals. 3.1 Collection of Charge Carriers. 3.1.1 Charge Carrier Drift in Gases Under High Pressure. 3.1.1.1 Drift of Electrons in Gases. 3.1.1.2 Drift of Ions in Gases. 3.1.2 Drift of Charge Carriers in Condensed Phases. 3.1.2.1 Drift of Electrons in Condensed Phases. 3.1.2.2 Drift of Ions and Holes in Condensed Noble Gases. 3.1.3 Charge Carrier Trapping. 3.1.3.1 Electron Attachment in Liquids. 3.1.3.2 Charge Trapping in Solids. 3.2 Electron Multiplication and Electroluminescence. 3.3 Charge Carrier Transfer at Interfaces. 3.3.1 Quasifree Electron Emission. 3.3.1.1 Thermal Electron Emission. 3.3.1.2 Hot Electron Emission. 3.3.1.3 Transition of Quasifree Electrons Along Interface. 3.3.2 Electron Emission From Localized States. 3.3.3 Transitions Between DifferentMedia. 3.3.4 Ion Emission from Nonpolar Dielectrics. 3.3.5 Electron Emission into Nonpolar Dielectrics. 3.3.5.1 Electron Emission From Cathodes. 3.3.5.2 Electron Injection Through the Free Interface. 3.4 Properties of Noble Gas Scintillators. 3.4.1 Primary Processes. 3.4.2 Emission Spectra. 3.4.2.1 Emission Spectra of Gases. 3.4.2.2 Emission Spectra of Liquids and Solids. 3.4.3 Absorption and Scattering. 3.4.3.1 Self-Absorption. 3.4.3.2 Impurity Absorption. 3.4.3.3 Scattering. 3.4.4 Scintillation Light Yield. 3.4.5 Refractive Index. 3.4.6 Decay Times. 3.4.6.1 Decay Times of Gases. 3.4.6.2 Decay Times of Liquids and Solids. 4 Scintillation Detectors. 4.1 High-Pressure Noble Gas Scintillation Detectors. 4.1.1 Single-Channel Gas Scintillation Detectors. 4.1.2 Multichannel Gas Scintillation Detectors. 4.2 Condensed Noble Gas Scintillation Detectors. 4.2.1 Scintillation Detectors Using Liquid Helium and Condensed Neon. 4.2.2 Scintillation Detectors Using Liquid Argon, Krypton and Xenon. 4.2.2.1 Single-Channel Noble Liquid Scintillation Detectors. 4.2.2.2 Multichannel Noble Liquid Scintillation Detectors. 4.3 Development of Scintillation Calorimeters. 4.3.1 Granulated Scintillation Calorimeters. 4.3.1.1 UV Light-Collecting Cells. 4.3.1.2 Light-Collecting Cells withWavelength Shifter. 4.3.1.3 Scintillation Calorimeter LIDER. 4.3.2 Barrel Scintillation Calorimeters. 4.4 Time-of-Flight Scintillation Detectors. 5 Ionization Detectors. 5.1 Generation of Induction Charge. 5.2 Diode Ionization Chamber. 5.3 Triode Ionization Chamber. 5.4 Multilayer Ionization Chamber. 5.5 Ionization Chamber with Virtual Frisch Grid. 5.6 Time Projection Chamber with Scintillation Trigger. 5.7 Use of Both Ionization and Scintillation Signals. 6 Proportional Scintillation Detectors. 6.1 Gaseous EL Detectors with Parallel Plate Electrode Structure. 6.1.1 Gas Proportional Scintillation Counters. 6.1.1.1 GPSCs with PMT Readout. 6.1.1.2 GPSC with Photodiode Readout. 6.1.1.3 GPSC with Open Photocathode Readout. 6.1.2 High-Pressure Electroluminescence Detectors. 6.1.3 Imaging Electroluminescence Detectors. 6.1.3.1 Analog Imaging Electroluminescence Detectors. 6.1.3.2 Digital Imaging. 6.2 High-Pressure Xenon Electroluminescence Detectors with Nonuniform Electric Field. 6.2.1 Cylindrical Proportional Scintillation Counters and Drift Chambers. 6.2.2 Gas Scintillation Proportional Counters with Spherical Electrical Field. 6.3 Multilayer Electroluminescence Chamber. 6.4 Liquid Electroluminescence Detectors. 7 Two-Phase Electron Emission Detectors. 7.1 Emission Ionization Chambers. 7.2 Emission Proportional Chambers. 7.3 Emission Spark Chambers. 7.4 Emission Electroluminescence Detectors. 7.5 Vacuum Emission Detectors. 7.6 Further Developments of Two-Phase Detectors. 8 Technology of Noble Gas Detectors. 8.1 Selection of Materials and Mechanical Design. 8.1.1 Metals. 8.1.1.1 Construction Metals. 8.1.1.2 Sealings. 8.1.2 Insulators. 8.1.3 Feedthroughs. 8.1.3.1 Electrical Feedthroughs. 8.1.3.2 Optical Fiber Feedthroughs. 8.1.3.3 Motion Feedthroughs. 8.1.4 Electrodes. 8.1.4.1 Active Cathodes. 8.1.4.2 Grids. 8.1.4.3 Multilayer Structures. 8.1.4.4 Amplifying Electrode Structures. 8.1.5 Viewports andWindows. 8.1.5.1 Materials. 8.1.5.2 Optical Windows for High-Pressure Detectors. 8.1.5.3 Glass Machining. 8.1.6 High-Pressure Vessels. 8.1.7 Cryogenics. 8.2 Processing High Purity Noble Gases. 8.2.1 Pretreatment. 8.2.2 Pumping. 8.2.3 Baking. 8.2.4 Handling. 8.3 Purification. 8.3.1 Impurities. 8.3.2 Chemical Methods of Purification. 8.3.3 Electron Drift Purification Method. 8.3.4 Spark Purification. 8.3.5 Separation of Noble Gases. 8.3.6 Circulation. 8.4 Monitoring the Working Media. 8.4.1 Electron Lifetime. 8.4.2 Optical Transparency. 8.4.3 Mass and Position of Free Surface. 8.4.4 Temperature, Pressure, and Density. 8.5 UV Light Collection. 8.5.1 Reflectors. 8.5.2 Wavelength Shifters. 8.5.2.1 Wavelength Shifters Dissolved in Noble Gases. 8.5.2.2 Solid Wavelength Shifters. 8.6 Photosensors. 8.6.1 Photomultipliers. 8.6.1.1 Low Temperature. 8.6.1.2 PMTs for High Pressure. 8.6.2 Semiconductor Photodiodes. 8.6.3 Open Photocathodes. 9 Applications. 9.1 Astronomy. 9.1.1 Instrumentation for X-ray Astronomy. 9.1.1.1 Gas Imaging Spectrometers On-Board ASCA. 9.1.1.2 High-Pressure Gas Scintillation Proportional Counter at BeppoSAX. 9.1.1.3 High-Pressure Gas Scintillation Proportional Counter On-Board HERO. 9.1.2 Instrumentation for Gamma Ray Astronomy. 9.1.2.1 KSENIA On-Board MIR Orbital Station. 9.1.2.2 LXeGRIT Balloon-Borne Compton Telescope. 9.2 Low-Background Experiments. 9.2.1 Direct Detection of Particle Dark Matter. 9.2.2 Neutrino Detectors. 9.2.3 Double Beta and Double Positron Decay Search. 9.2.3.1 Experiments with Active Targets. 9.2.3.2 Experiment with a Passive Target. 9.2.3.3 Double Positron Decay Experiments. 9.3 High-Energy Physics: Calorimeters. 9.3.1 Ionization Calorimeters. 9.3.1.1 Liquid Argon Calorimeters. 9.3.1.2 Liquid Krypton Calorimeters. 9.3.1.3 Xenon Calorimeters. 9.3.2 Scintillation Calorimeters. 9.4 Medical Imaging. 9.4.1 X-ray Imaging. 9.4.1.1 Analog X-ray Imaging. 9.4.1.2 Digital X-ray Imaging. 9.4.2 Single-Photon Emission Computing Tomography (SPECT). 9.4.2.1 Liquid Xenon Detectors for SPECT. 9.4.2.2 High-Pressure Noble Gas Detectors for SPECT. 9.4.3 Positron Emission Tomography (PET). 9.4.3.1 Liquid Xenon TPC with a Scintillation Trigger. 9.4.3.2 Liquid Xenon Scintillation Time-of-Flight PET. References. Index.

Noble Gas Detectors

https://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/0605500.pdf

The ZEPLIN-III dark matter detector: Instrument design, manufacture and commissioning

A high-pressure xenon gas TPC can provide both event topology information and optimized energy resolution for the detection of ββ decay in 136Xe. The result of optimization indicates that, at the 136Xe Q-value of 2480 keV, an energy resolution of δE/E<5×10−3 FWHM may be realizable, even at the 1000 kg scale. Signal detection by electroluminescence appears essential to realize this performance. A specific method for generation and detection of the electroluminescent signal and particle tracking in high-pressure xenon gas is advanced. Strengths and weaknesses of high-pressure xenon gas TPC detectors are evaluated and compared to detectors based on liquid xenon.

High-pressure xenon gas electroluminescent TPC for 0-ν ββ-decay search

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 2459 keV hypothetical neutrino-less double beta decay peak are realizable. This energy resolution is a factor 7-20 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

/pdf/near-intrinsic-energy-resolution-for-30-662-kev-gamma-rays-1wyc6q92rf.pdf

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

The xenon secondary scintillation yield was studied as a function of the electric field in the scintillation region, in a gas proportional scintillation counter operated at room temperature. A large area avalanche photodiode was used for the readout of the VUV secondary scintillation produced in the gas, together with the 5.9 keV x-rays directly absorbed in the photodiode. The latter was used as a reference for the determination of the number of charge carriers produced by the scintillation pulse and, thus, the number of VUV photons impinging the photodiode. A value of 140 photons/kV was obtained for the scintillation amplification parameter. The attained results are in good agreement with those predicted, for room temperature, by Monte Carlo simulation and Boltzmann calculations, as well as with those obtained for saturated xenon vapour, at cryogenic temperatures, and are about a factor of two higher than former results measured at room temperature.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-0221/2/05/P05001/pdf

Secondary scintillation yield in pure xenon

The authors present results from a prototype xenon-gas scintillation drift chamber. It was operated at pressures up to 20 atm, and the scintillation light yield was measured at various pressures and reduced fields. Scintillation-reduced fields ranged from 1.3 to 3 kV/cm/atm in a 5.4-mm scintillation gap. Drift fields ranged from 45 to 100 V/cm/atm in an 8-cm drift region. The chamber was exposed to an /sup 241/Am source in a port either 2.7 or 5.4 cm from the secondary scintillation region. The authors also describe the high-voltage problems encountered during operation at high pressures. Further tests with the wave shifter fiber readout showed that the problem of gas contamination by the fibers is manageable but that the interaction between the optical fibers and the high pressure xenon gas can lead to fiber damage. A solution to this problem is described. >

High pressure gas scintillation drift chambers with wave-shifter fiber readout

High pressure gas scintillation drift chambers with wave shifter fiber readout

Results for a prototype xenon gas scintillation drift chamber are presented. Its operation is discussed using two types of light detection schemes: one based on an Anger camera geometry and one based on an array of wave-shifting light fibers. The results are judged to demonstrate the instrument's potential. >

Gas scintillation drift chambers with wave shifter fiber readout

We present results from a prototype high pressure xenon gas scintillation drift chamber using a novel wave-shifter fiber readout scheme. We have operated the chamber at pressures as high as 20 atmospheres and have determined that the secondary light yield is linear in both reduced field and pressure. We have measured the primary scintillation light yield to be one photon per 76±12 eV deposited energy. We present initial results of our chamber for the two-interaction separation (<4 mm in the drift direction, mm orthogonal to the drift); for the position resolution (<400 gm rms in the plane orthogonal to the drift direction); and for the energy resolution (ΔE/E < 6% FVVHM at 122 keV).

High Pressure Gas Scintillation Drift Chambers With Wave-Shifter Readout

Gas scintillation chambers have excellent energy resolution, but so far have been limited to small areas and low pressures because of the window used to collect the scintillation light.We are developing a new read‐out method based on wave shifter light fibers which overcomes these limitations, while preserving the good energy resolution of gas scintillation. In addition, this scheme should provided excellent spatial resolution and good imaging capabilities.We are presently testing the scheme and will present our latest results, including the first experimental demonstration of the wave shifter fiber read‐out. As an example of the potential of the technique, we will describe our current design for a detector of 40 cm diameter filled with 4 g/cm2 of xenon. The energy resolution is expected to be 2.2% FWHM at 122 keV and through the identification of the K shell photon, the background will be an order of magnitude lower than current detectors.

A. Parsons

Papers

High pressure gas scintillation drift chambers with wave-shifter fiber readout

High pressure gas scintillation drift chambers with wave shifter fiber readout

Gas scintillation drift chambers with wave shifter fiber readout

High Pressure Gas Scintillation Drift Chambers With Wave-Shifter Readout

The gas scintillation drift chamber as a hard X-ray detector