Detection of Proportional Scintillation in Liquid Xenon

2 Jun 2014, 17:30
20m
Administratiezaal (Beurs van Berlage)

Administratiezaal

Beurs van Berlage

Oral Experiments: 2d) Dark Matter Detectors II.d Dark Matter

Speaker

Dr Junji Naganoma (Rice University)

Description

We present results from measurements to detect proportional scintillation light near thin wires in liquid xenon (LXe). А LXe time projection chamber (TPC) has superior features for the direct detection of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) as demonstrated by the Xenon10 and Xenon100 experiments and more recently also by LUX. Future upgrades of these experiments with a TPC containing several tonnes of LXe presents some technical challenges which could be removed with the detection of the proportional scintillation in liquid phase. First measurements of the proportional scintillation in LXe were reported more than 30 years ago. In light of the advantages of the approach for the future large scale LXe detectors for the Dark Matter search we have carried out new measurements in LXe using thin wires and a gas electron multiplier. The experiment set-up and results from this R&D carried out at Columbia University Nevis Lab will be presented.

Primary author

Dr Junji Naganoma (Rice University)

Co-authors

Dr Alfio Rizzo (Columbia University) Dr Antonio Melgarejo Fernandez (Columbia University) Prof. Elena Aprile (Columbia University) Dr Guillaume Plante (Columbia University) Ms Hood Rosie (Columbia University) Mr Hugo Contreras (Columbia University) Mr Luke Goetzke (Columbia University) Dr Marcello Messina (Columbia University) Dr Petr Shagin (Rice University) Dr Ranny Budnik (Columbia University) Dr Richard Wall (Rice University)

Presentation materials