Studies of electron avalanche behavior in liquid argon

Electron avalanching in liquid argon is being studied as a function of voltage, pressure, radiation intensity, and the concentrations of certain additives, especially xenon. The avalanches produced in an intense electric field at the tip of a tungsten needle are initiated by ionization from a movabl...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on nuclear science 2002-08, Vol.49 (4), p.1851-1856
Main Authors: Kim, J.G., Dardin, S.M., Jackson, K.H., Kadel, R.W., Kadyk, J.A., Peskov, V., Wenzel, W.A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Argon
Electric fields
Electron avalanche
Electrons
Excimers
Industrial gases
Ionization
Liquids
Needles
Photomultipliers
Signal detection
Testing
Tungsten
Voltage
Xenon
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Electron avalanching in liquid argon is being studied as a function of voltage, pressure, radiation intensity, and the concentrations of certain additives, especially xenon. The avalanches produced in an intense electric field at the tip of a tungsten needle are initiated by ionization from a movable americium (/sup 241/Am) gamma-ray source. Photons from xenon excimers are detected as photomultiplier signals in coincidence with the current pulse from the needle. In pure liquid argon, the avalanche behavior is erratic, but the addition of even a small amount of xenon (/spl les/100 ppm) stabilizes the performance. Similar attempts with neon (30%) as an additive to argon have been unsuccessful. Tests with higher energy gamma-rays (/sup 57/Co) yield spectra and other performance characteristics quite similar to those using the /sup 241/Am source. Two types of signal pulses are commonly observed: a set of pulses that are sensitive to ambient pressure and a set of somewhat smaller pulses that are not pressure dependent.
ISSN:0018-9499
1558-1578
DOI:10.1109/TNS.2002.801490