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Title: Measurement of scintillation and ionization yield with high-pressure gaseous mixtures of Xe and TMA for improved neutrinoless double beta decay and dark matter searches

Abstract

The gaseous Xenon(Xe) time projection chamber (TPC) is an attractive detector technique for neutrinoless double beta decay and WIMP dark matter searches. While it is less dense compared to Liquid Xe detectors, it has intrinsic advantages in tracking capability and better energy resolution. The performance of gaseous Xe can be further improved by molecular additives such as trimethylamine(TMA), which is expected to (1) cool down the ionization electrons, (2) convert Xe excitation energy to TMA ionizations through Penning transfer, and (3) produce scintillation and electroluminescence light in a more easily detectable wavelength (300 nm). In order to test the feasibility of the performance improvements with TMA, in this paper we made the first direct measurement of Penning and fluorescence transfer efficiency with gaseous mixtures of Xe and TMA. While we observed a Penning transfer efficiency up to ~35%, we found strong suppression of primary scintillation light with TMA. We also found that the primary scintillation light with Xe and TMA mixture can be well characterized by ~3% fluorescence transfer from Xe to TMA, with further suppression due to TMA self-quenching. No evidence of the scintillation light produced by recombination of TMA ions was found. This strong suppression of scintillation lightmore » makes dark matter searches quite challenging, while the possibility of improved neutrinoless double beta decay searches remains open. Finally, this work has been carried out within the context of the NEXT collaboration.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [1]
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  1. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  2. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of Texas, Arlington, TX (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
OSTI Identifier:
1379237
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-05CH11231; FC52-08NA28752
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Journal of Instrumentation
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 11; Journal Issue: 3; Journal ID: ISSN 1748-0221
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY; scintillators; scintillation and light emission processes; solid, gas and liquid scintillators; double-beta decay detectors; charge transport and multiplication in gas; dark matter detectors; WIMPs; axions

Citation Formats

Nakajima, Y., Goldschmidt, A., Matis, H. S., Miller, T., Nygren, D. R., Oliveira, C. A. B., and Renner, J. Measurement of scintillation and ionization yield with high-pressure gaseous mixtures of Xe and TMA for improved neutrinoless double beta decay and dark matter searches. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1088/1748-0221/11/03/C03041.
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Nakajima, Y., Goldschmidt, A., Matis, H. S., Miller, T., Nygren, D. R., Oliveira, C. A. B., & Renner, J. Measurement of scintillation and ionization yield with high-pressure gaseous mixtures of Xe and TMA for improved neutrinoless double beta decay and dark matter searches. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/11/03/C03041
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Nakajima, Y., Goldschmidt, A., Matis, H. S., Miller, T., Nygren, D. R., Oliveira, C. A. B., and Renner, J. Fri . "Measurement of scintillation and ionization yield with high-pressure gaseous mixtures of Xe and TMA for improved neutrinoless double beta decay and dark matter searches". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/11/03/C03041. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1379237.
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@article{osti_1379237,
title = {Measurement of scintillation and ionization yield with high-pressure gaseous mixtures of Xe and TMA for improved neutrinoless double beta decay and dark matter searches},
author = {Nakajima, Y. and Goldschmidt, A. and Matis, H. S. and Miller, T. and Nygren, D. R. and Oliveira, C. A. B. and Renner, J.},
abstractNote = {The gaseous Xenon(Xe) time projection chamber (TPC) is an attractive detector technique for neutrinoless double beta decay and WIMP dark matter searches. While it is less dense compared to Liquid Xe detectors, it has intrinsic advantages in tracking capability and better energy resolution. The performance of gaseous Xe can be further improved by molecular additives such as trimethylamine(TMA), which is expected to (1) cool down the ionization electrons, (2) convert Xe excitation energy to TMA ionizations through Penning transfer, and (3) produce scintillation and electroluminescence light in a more easily detectable wavelength (300 nm). In order to test the feasibility of the performance improvements with TMA, in this paper we made the first direct measurement of Penning and fluorescence transfer efficiency with gaseous mixtures of Xe and TMA. While we observed a Penning transfer efficiency up to ~35%, we found strong suppression of primary scintillation light with TMA. We also found that the primary scintillation light with Xe and TMA mixture can be well characterized by ~3% fluorescence transfer from Xe to TMA, with further suppression due to TMA self-quenching. No evidence of the scintillation light produced by recombination of TMA ions was found. This strong suppression of scintillation light makes dark matter searches quite challenging, while the possibility of improved neutrinoless double beta decay searches remains open. Finally, this work has been carried out within the context of the NEXT collaboration.},
doi = {10.1088/1748-0221/11/03/C03041},
journal = {Journal of Instrumentation},
number = 3,
volume = 11,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Mar 18 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Fri Mar 18 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}
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https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/11/03/C03041
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Works referenced in this record:

Micro-physics simulations of columnar recombination along nuclear recoil tracks in high-pressure Xe gas for directional dark matter searches
journal, November 2015

Accurate γ and MeV-electron track reconstruction with an ultra-low diffusion Xenon/TMA TPC at 10 atm
journal, December 2015

  • González-Díaz, Diego; Álvarez, V.; Borges, F. I. G.
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 804
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.nima.2015.08.033

Modelling the behaviour of microbulk Micromegas in xenon/trimethylamine gas
journal, November 2015

  • Ruiz-Choliz, E.; González-Díaz, D.; Diago, A.
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 799
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.nima.2015.07.062

Ionization fluctuations and resolution of ionization chambers and semiconductor detectors
journal, February 1967

Ionization and scintillation of nuclear recoils in gaseous xenon
journal, September 2015

  • Renner, J.; Gehman, V. M.; Goldschmidt, A.
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 793
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.nima.2015.04.057

The photophysics of tertiary aliphatic amines
journal, December 1981

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    Works referencing / citing this record:

    Electron Drift and Longitudinal Diffusion in High Pressure Xenon-Helium Gas Mixtures
    text, January 2019

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