First demonstration of a sub-keV electron recoil energy threshold in a liquid argon ionization chamber

We describe the first demonstration of a sub-keV electron recoil energy threshold in a dual-phase liquid argon time projection chamber. This is an important step in an effort to develop a detector capable of identifying the ionization signal resulting from nuclear recoils with energies of order a few keV and below. We obtained this result by observing the peaks in the energy spectrum at 2.82 keV and 0.27 keV, following the K- and L-shell electron capture decay of 37Ar respectively. The 37Ar source preparation is described in detail, since it enables calibration that may also prove useful in dark matter direct detection experiments. An internally placed 55Fe x-ray source simultaneously provided another calibration point at 5.9 keV. We discuss the ionization yield and electron recombination in liquid argon at those three calibration energies.