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Title: Radio frequency and DC high voltage breakdown of high pressure helium, argon, and xenon

Abstract

Motivated by the possibility of guiding daughter ions from double beta decay events to single-ion sensors for barium tagging, the NEXT collaboration is developing a program of R&D to test radio frequency (RF) carpets for ion transport in high pressure xenon gas. Specifically, this would require carpet functionality in regimes at higher pressures than have been previously reported, implying correspondingly larger electrode voltages than in existing systems. This mode of operation appears plausible for contemporary RF-carpet geometries due to the higher predicted breakdown strength of high pressure xenon relative to low pressure helium, the working medium in most existing RF carpet devices. In this paper we present the first measurements of the high voltage dielectric strength of xenon gas at high pressure and at the relevant RF frequencies for ion transport (in the 10 MHz range), as well as new DC and RF measurements of the dielectric strengths of high pressure argon and helium gases at small gap sizes. We find breakdown voltages that are compatible with stable RF carpet operation given the gas, pressure, voltage, materials and geometry of interest.

Authors:
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Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Univ. of Texas, Arlington, TX (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP)
Contributing Org.:
NEXT Collaboration
OSTI Identifier:
1638682
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1765833; OSTI ID: 1908636
Report Number(s):
FERMILAB-PUB-20-325-ND-SCD; arXiv:1909.05860
Journal ID: ISSN 1748-0221; oai:inspirehep.net:1753958; TRN: US2201807
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-07CH11359; AC02-06CH11357; SC0019054
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Journal of Instrumentation
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 15; Journal Issue: 04; Journal ID: ISSN 1748-0221
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS; 46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY; Noble gases; Breakdown voltages; Buffer gases; Gaseous detectors; Noble element TPCs; Xenon

Citation Formats

Woodruff, K., Baeza-Rubio, J., Huerta, D., Jones, B.J.P., McDonald, A.D., Norman, L., Nygren, D.R., Adams, C., Álvarez, V., Arazi, L., Arnquist, I.J., Azevedo, C.D.R, Bailey, K., Ballester, F., Benlloch-Rodríguez, J.M., Borges, F.I.G.M., Byrnes, N.K., Cárcel, S., Carrión, J.V., Cebrián, S., Church, E., Conde, C.A.N., Contreras, T., Denisenko, A.A., Díaz, G., Díaz, J., Diesburg, M., Escada, J., Esteve, R., Felkai, R., Fernandes, A.F.M., Fernandes, L.M.P., Ferrario, P., Ferreira, A.L., Jr., F.W. Foss, Freitas, E.D.C., Generowicz, J., Goldschmidt, A., González-Díaz, D., Gómez-Cadenas, J.J., Ghosh, S., Guenette, R., Gutiérrez, R.M., Haefner, J., Hafidi, K., Hauptman, J., Henriques, C.A.O., Morata, J.A. Hernando, Herrero, P., Herrero, V., Johnston, S., Kekic, M., Labarga, L., Laing, A., Lebrun, P., López-March, N., Losada, M., Mano, R.D.P., Martín-Albo, J., Martínez, A., Martínez-Lema, G., Monrabal, F., Monteiro, C.M.B., Mora, F.J., Vidal, J. Muñoz, Novella, P., Palmeiro, B., Para, A., Pérez, J., Querol, M., Renner, J., Repond, J., Riordan, S., Ripoll, L., Garcia, Y. Rodriguez, Rodríguez, J., Rogers, L., Romeo, B., Romo-Luque, C., Santos, F.P., Santos, J.M.F. dos, Simón, A., Sofka, C., Sorel, M., Stiegler, T., Thapa, P., Toledo, J.F., Torrent, J., Usón, A., Veloso, J.F.C.A., Webb, R., Weiss-Babai, R., White, J.T., and Yahlali, N. Radio frequency and DC high voltage breakdown of high pressure helium, argon, and xenon. United States: N. p., 2020. Web. doi:10.1088/1748-0221/15/04/p04022.
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Woodruff, K., Baeza-Rubio, J., Huerta, D., Jones, B.J.P., McDonald, A.D., Norman, L., Nygren, D.R., Adams, C., Álvarez, V., Arazi, L., Arnquist, I.J., Azevedo, C.D.R, Bailey, K., Ballester, F., Benlloch-Rodríguez, J.M., Borges, F.I.G.M., Byrnes, N.K., Cárcel, S., Carrión, J.V., Cebrián, S., Church, E., Conde, C.A.N., Contreras, T., Denisenko, A.A., Díaz, G., Díaz, J., Diesburg, M., Escada, J., Esteve, R., Felkai, R., Fernandes, A.F.M., Fernandes, L.M.P., Ferrario, P., Ferreira, A.L., Jr., F.W. Foss, Freitas, E.D.C., Generowicz, J., Goldschmidt, A., González-Díaz, D., Gómez-Cadenas, J.J., Ghosh, S., Guenette, R., Gutiérrez, R.M., Haefner, J., Hafidi, K., Hauptman, J., Henriques, C.A.O., Morata, J.A. Hernando, Herrero, P., Herrero, V., Johnston, S., Kekic, M., Labarga, L., Laing, A., Lebrun, P., López-March, N., Losada, M., Mano, R.D.P., Martín-Albo, J., Martínez, A., Martínez-Lema, G., Monrabal, F., Monteiro, C.M.B., Mora, F.J., Vidal, J. Muñoz, Novella, P., Palmeiro, B., Para, A., Pérez, J., Querol, M., Renner, J., Repond, J., Riordan, S., Ripoll, L., Garcia, Y. Rodriguez, Rodríguez, J., Rogers, L., Romeo, B., Romo-Luque, C., Santos, F.P., Santos, J.M.F. dos, Simón, A., Sofka, C., Sorel, M., Stiegler, T., Thapa, P., Toledo, J.F., Torrent, J., Usón, A., Veloso, J.F.C.A., Webb, R., Weiss-Babai, R., White, J.T., & Yahlali, N. Radio frequency and DC high voltage breakdown of high pressure helium, argon, and xenon. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/15/04/p04022
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Woodruff, K., Baeza-Rubio, J., Huerta, D., Jones, B.J.P., McDonald, A.D., Norman, L., Nygren, D.R., Adams, C., Álvarez, V., Arazi, L., Arnquist, I.J., Azevedo, C.D.R, Bailey, K., Ballester, F., Benlloch-Rodríguez, J.M., Borges, F.I.G.M., Byrnes, N.K., Cárcel, S., Carrión, J.V., Cebrián, S., Church, E., Conde, C.A.N., Contreras, T., Denisenko, A.A., Díaz, G., Díaz, J., Diesburg, M., Escada, J., Esteve, R., Felkai, R., Fernandes, A.F.M., Fernandes, L.M.P., Ferrario, P., Ferreira, A.L., Jr., F.W. Foss, Freitas, E.D.C., Generowicz, J., Goldschmidt, A., González-Díaz, D., Gómez-Cadenas, J.J., Ghosh, S., Guenette, R., Gutiérrez, R.M., Haefner, J., Hafidi, K., Hauptman, J., Henriques, C.A.O., Morata, J.A. Hernando, Herrero, P., Herrero, V., Johnston, S., Kekic, M., Labarga, L., Laing, A., Lebrun, P., López-March, N., Losada, M., Mano, R.D.P., Martín-Albo, J., Martínez, A., Martínez-Lema, G., Monrabal, F., Monteiro, C.M.B., Mora, F.J., Vidal, J. Muñoz, Novella, P., Palmeiro, B., Para, A., Pérez, J., Querol, M., Renner, J., Repond, J., Riordan, S., Ripoll, L., Garcia, Y. Rodriguez, Rodríguez, J., Rogers, L., Romeo, B., Romo-Luque, C., Santos, F.P., Santos, J.M.F. dos, Simón, A., Sofka, C., Sorel, M., Stiegler, T., Thapa, P., Toledo, J.F., Torrent, J., Usón, A., Veloso, J.F.C.A., Webb, R., Weiss-Babai, R., White, J.T., and Yahlali, N. Wed . "Radio frequency and DC high voltage breakdown of high pressure helium, argon, and xenon". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/15/04/p04022. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1638682.
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@article{osti_1638682,
title = {Radio frequency and DC high voltage breakdown of high pressure helium, argon, and xenon},
author = {Woodruff, K. and Baeza-Rubio, J. and Huerta, D. and Jones, B.J.P. and McDonald, A.D. and Norman, L. and Nygren, D.R. and Adams, C. and Álvarez, V. and Arazi, L. and Arnquist, I.J. and Azevedo, C.D.R and Bailey, K. and Ballester, F. and Benlloch-Rodríguez, J.M. and Borges, F.I.G.M. and Byrnes, N.K. and Cárcel, S. and Carrión, J.V. and Cebrián, S. and Church, E. and Conde, C.A.N. and Contreras, T. and Denisenko, A.A. and Díaz, G. and Díaz, J. and Diesburg, M. and Escada, J. and Esteve, R. and Felkai, R. and Fernandes, A.F.M. and Fernandes, L.M.P. and Ferrario, P. and Ferreira, A.L. and Jr., F.W. Foss and Freitas, E.D.C. and Generowicz, J. and Goldschmidt, A. and González-Díaz, D. and Gómez-Cadenas, J.J. and Ghosh, S. and Guenette, R. and Gutiérrez, R.M. and Haefner, J. and Hafidi, K. and Hauptman, J. and Henriques, C.A.O. and Morata, J.A. Hernando and Herrero, P. and Herrero, V. and Johnston, S. and Kekic, M. and Labarga, L. and Laing, A. and Lebrun, P. and López-March, N. and Losada, M. and Mano, R.D.P. and Martín-Albo, J. and Martínez, A. and Martínez-Lema, G. and Monrabal, F. and Monteiro, C.M.B. and Mora, F.J. and Vidal, J. Muñoz and Novella, P. and Palmeiro, B. and Para, A. and Pérez, J. and Querol, M. and Renner, J. and Repond, J. and Riordan, S. and Ripoll, L. and Garcia, Y. Rodriguez and Rodríguez, J. and Rogers, L. and Romeo, B. and Romo-Luque, C. and Santos, F.P. and Santos, J.M.F. dos and Simón, A. and Sofka, C. and Sorel, M. and Stiegler, T. and Thapa, P. and Toledo, J.F. and Torrent, J. and Usón, A. and Veloso, J.F.C.A. and Webb, R. and Weiss-Babai, R. and White, J.T. and Yahlali, N.},
abstractNote = {Motivated by the possibility of guiding daughter ions from double beta decay events to single-ion sensors for barium tagging, the NEXT collaboration is developing a program of R&D to test radio frequency (RF) carpets for ion transport in high pressure xenon gas. Specifically, this would require carpet functionality in regimes at higher pressures than have been previously reported, implying correspondingly larger electrode voltages than in existing systems. This mode of operation appears plausible for contemporary RF-carpet geometries due to the higher predicted breakdown strength of high pressure xenon relative to low pressure helium, the working medium in most existing RF carpet devices. In this paper we present the first measurements of the high voltage dielectric strength of xenon gas at high pressure and at the relevant RF frequencies for ion transport (in the 10 MHz range), as well as new DC and RF measurements of the dielectric strengths of high pressure argon and helium gases at small gap sizes. We find breakdown voltages that are compatible with stable RF carpet operation given the gas, pressure, voltage, materials and geometry of interest.},
doi = {10.1088/1748-0221/15/04/p04022},
journal = {Journal of Instrumentation},
number = 04,
volume = 15,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Apr 29 00:00:00 EDT 2020},
month = {Wed Apr 29 00:00:00 EDT 2020}
}
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https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/15/04/p04022
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