Scintillation efficiency and ionization yield of liquid xenon for monoenergetic nuclear recoils down to 4 keV

Journal Article · Mon Feb 15 00:00:00 EST 2010 · Physical Review. C, Nuclear Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVC.81.025808· OSTI ID:21388876

Manzur, A; Curioni, A; Kastens, L; McKinsey, D N; Ni, K; Wongjirad, T ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520 (United States)

Liquid xenon (LXe) is an excellent material for experiments designed to detect dark matter in the form of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). A low energy detection threshold is essential for a sensitive WIMP search. The understanding of the relative scintillation efficiency (L{sub eff}) and ionization yield of low energy nuclear recoils in LXe is limited for energies below 10 keV. In this article, we present new measurements that extend the energy down to 4 keV, finding that L{sub eff} decreases with decreasing energy. We also measure the quenching of scintillation efficiency caused by the electric field in LXe, finding no significant field dependence.

• OSTI ID: 21388876
• Journal Information: Physical Review. C, Nuclear Physics, Vol. 81, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevC.81.025808; (c) 2010 The American Physical Society; ISSN 0556-2813
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
EFFICIENCY
ELECTRIC FIELDS
IONIZATION
KEV RANGE 01-10
LIQUIDS
NONLUMINOUS MATTER
QUENCHING
RECOILS
SCINTILLATIONS
WEAK INTERACTIONS
XENON
BASIC INTERACTIONS
ELEMENTS
ENERGY RANGE
FLUIDS
GASES
INTERACTIONS
KEV RANGE
MATTER
NONMETALS
RARE GASES