Development of liquid xenon detectors for gamma ray astronomy

Author

Aprile, Elena ; Suzuki, Masayo

Author_Institution

Dept. of Phys., Columbia Univ., New York, NY, USA

Volume

36

Issue

1

fYear

1989

fDate

2/1/1989 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

311

Lastpage

315

Abstract

The application of liquid xenon in high-resolution detectors for gamma-ray astronomy is being investigated. Initial results from a pulse-shape analysis of ionization signals in a liquid-xenon gridded chamber indicate that it is possible to achieve the necessary liquid purity for the transport of free electrons with simple techniques. The energy resolution has been measured as a function of applied electric field, using electrons and γ=rays from a ²⁰⁷Bi source. At a field of 12 kV/cm the noise-subtracted energy resolution of the dominant 569-keV γ-ray line is 34 keV FWHM (full width at half maximum). This value is mostly determined by recombination of electron-ion pairs on delta-electron tracks

Keywords

astronomical instruments; electron detection and measurement; gamma-ray astronomy; gamma-ray detection and measurement; ionisation chambers; γ=rays; electron-ion recombination; electrons; energy resolution; gamma ray astronomy; liquid Xe detectors; pulse-shape analysis; Astronomy; Electrons; Energy measurement; Energy resolution; Extraterrestrial measurements; Gamma ray detection; Gamma ray detectors; Ionization; Signal analysis; Xenon;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9499

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/23.34455

Filename

34455