Compressed xenon gas near its critical point as an ionization medium

Conference · Sun Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1993 · IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States)

OSTI ID:5947286

Levin, C; Markey, J ^[1]

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1. Yale Univ., New Haven, CT (United States). A.W. Wright Nuclear Structure Lab.

As part of an effort to study Ov [beta][beta] decay of [sup 136]Xe, a compressed xenon drift chamber has been developed. In such a chamber, the ability to drift ionization over large distances without attenuation, stability with time, and excellent energy resolution are essential. Xenon is an attractive candidate for use as an ionization detection medium. Its low cost in large volumes gives it an advantage over solid-state detectors. Its large atomic number (Z = 54) and density (when compressed or condensed) give a high stopping power for [gamma]-radiation. The low average energy required to produce an electron-ion pair and small Fano factor allow good energy resolution. The expected intrinsic energy resolution is 2 and 4 keV FWHM at 1 MeV in liquid and gaseous xenon, respectively. Thus, high density xenon spectrometers have a detection efficiency similar to NaI(T1) crystals of the same size and an energy resolution comparable in theory to that in Ge(Li) detectors. However, the best energy resolution results in liquid xenon, 34 and 54 keV FWHM for the 570 and 1,064 keV photo-peaks of [sup 207]Bi, respectively, fall considerably short of the Fano factor predictions. It appears that the resolution is limited by some process other than Poisson fluctuations. In this report the authors describe results obtained from a dual gridded ionization chamber filled with highly purified gaseous xenon operating near its critical point where the density, [rho][sub c] = 1.09 g/cm[sup 3], approaches that of the liquid phase. This thermodynamic regime has not previously been studied in xenon.

• OSTI ID: 5947286
• Report Number(s): CONF-921005-; CODEN: IETNAE
• Journal Information: IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States), Vol. 40:4 part 1; Conference: Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) nuclear science symposium and medical imaging conference, Orlando, FL (United States), 25-31 Oct 1992; ISSN 0018-9499
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
IONIZATION CHAMBERS
PERFORMANCE
ENERGY RESOLUTION
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
GAMMA RADIATION
IONIZATION
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
XENON
DATA
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELEMENTS
FLUIDS
GASES
INFORMATION
IONIZING RADIATIONS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
NONMETALS
NUMERICAL DATA
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
RADIATION DETECTORS
RADIATIONS
RARE GASES
RESOLUTION
440101* - Radiation Instrumentation- General Detectors or Monitors & Radiometric Instruments