Light yield of liquid and solid xenon irradiated with γ-rays

We have measured the absolute light yield of liquid and solid xenon (LXe and SXe respectively) irradiated with γ-rays with energies from 320 keV to 1770 keV. With our method, which consisted of comparing the light yield of LXeSXe with that of BaF2, we found a value of (24±3)×103 photons/MeV. This means we estimate the Ws-value to be (42±6) eV. Although the light yield of LXeSXe was higher than the light yield of BaF2, the energy resolution of the recorded spectra is worse. With a digital oscilloscope we estimate the decay time of LXeSXe to be (34±3) ns. We did not see any difference between these values for LXe and SXe.