Detection of scintillation light in coincidence with ionizing tracks in a liquid argon time projection chamber

• Published in: Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment, 1999-08, Vol.432 (2-3), p.240-248
• Main Authors: Cennini, P, Revol, J.P, Rubbia, C, Sergiampietri, F, Bueno, A, Campanelli, M, Goudsmit, P, Rubbia, A, Periale, L, Suzuki, S, Chen, C, Chen, Y, He, K, Huang, X, Li, Z, Lu, F, Ma, J, Xu, G, Xu, Z, Zhang, C, Zhang, Q, Zheng, S, Cavanna, F, Mazza, D, Mortari, G.Piano, Petrera, S, Rossi, C, Mannocchi, G, Picchi, P, Arneodo, F, Mitri, I.De, Palamara, O, Cavalli, D, Ferrari, A, Sala, P, di Tigliole, A.Borio, Cesana, A, Terrani, M, Zavattari, C, Baibussinov, S, Bettini, A, Carpanese, C, Centro, S, Favaretto, D, Pascoli, D, Pepato, A, Pietropaolo, F, Ventura, S, Benetti, P, Calligarich, E, Campo, S, Coco, S, Dolfini, R, Ghedi, B, Berzolari, A.Gigli, Mauri, F, Mazzone, L, Montanari, C, Piazzoli, A, Rappoldi, A, Raselli, G.L, Rebuzzi, D, Rossella, M, Scannicchio, D, Torre, P, Vignoli, C, Cline, D, Otwinowski, S, Wang, H, Woo, J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Liquid argon; Scintillation light; Time projection chamber
• ISSN: 0168-9002; 1872-9576
• DOI: 10.1016/S0168-9002(99)00519-7

A system to detect light from liquid argon scintillation has been implemented in a small, ICARUS-like, liquid argon time projection chamber. The system, which uses a VUV-sensitive photomultiplier to collect the light, has recorded many ionizing tracks from cosmic-rays in coincidence with scintillation signals. Our measurements demonstrate that scintillation light detection can provide an effective method for absolute time measurement of events and eventually a useful trigger signal.