Measurement of Electron Drift Velocities in the Mixture of Xe and He for a New High-Pressure Xe Gamma-Ray Detector

Abstract

Drift velocities of electrons in a mixture of Xe (20 atm)–He (3 atm) were measured using a cylindrical high-pressure xenon chamber. The drift velocities were found to be greater than 3 ×105 cm/s above the reduced electric field of 2.0 ×10-18 V·cm2 at room temperature, which are close to those in Xe–H2 (0.3%). The mixture of He gas into high-pressure xenon improved the resolving time of detectors because it increased the electron drift velocities. This implies that a high-pressure xenon chamber mixed with 3He instead of He gas operates as a gamma-ray detector sensitive to thermal neutrons.