A Fast VUV Light Pulser for Testing Ring-Imaging Cerenkov Counters

A simple, fast, VUV light pulser for testing a TMAE-based, time-projection-chamber-type photon detector for a ring-imaging Cerenkov counter is described. The pulser consists of an automobile spark plug fired in a controlled atmosphere by a relaxation oscillator. The resulting VUV spectrum, spark-current pulse, and light pulse were investigated for hydrogen, xenon, krypton, and nitrogen fills. The best pulse (3.5 ns FWHM) was obtained with hydrogen at 60 kPa absolute pressure. Xenon was, generally, unsuitable because it continued to emit light for more than a microsecond after excitation. With krypton and nitrogen, no light was emitted in the wavelength region of interest except for a series of sharp lines attributable to the electrodes.