Abstract
The angular dependence of columnar recombination in xenon (Xe) gas, if observed for low energy nuclear tracks, can be used for a direction-sensitive dark matter search. We measured both scintillation and ionization yields to study columnar recombination for 5.4 MeV alpha particles in a high pressure gas detector filled with Xe gas at a pressure of 8 atm. Because the recombination photons are emitted several microseconds after de-excitation, the scintillation photons are separated into fast and slow components. While the fast component is not dependent on the track angle relative to the drift electric field, the slow component increases when the track is aligned with the electric field. This result indicates that the track angle relative to the electric field can be reconstructed from the scintillation time profile.
Highlights
The potential of the drift top is fixed to the ground level, and positive voltages are applied to the meshes to form the electric fields
To shield the −800 V potential applied to the photomultiplier tube (PMT) surface, a ground level mesh is placed 3 mm above the PMT
We measured the scintillation photons at several drift electric field strengths to confirm that the slow component is made of recombination photons
Summary
Sissa Medialab. Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
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