Measurement of the Low-Energy Quenching Factor in CsI[Na

Abstract

As discussed in Chap. 2, the only visible signal from a CEνNS interaction is a nuclear recoil within the detector. These recoils carry only a small amount of energy. Their detection is made even more difficult due to a process typically referred to as quenching: For a low-energy nuclear recoil only a small amount of energy is converted into scintillation or ionization, and the rest is dissipated via secondary nuclear recoils and heat. The quenching factor can be defined by comparing the scintillation or ionization yield of a nuclear recoil of given energy to the scintillation or ionization yield of an ionizing particle of the same energy, i.e., a particle which predominantly loses its energy through electronic recoils in the detector.