As noble liquid time projection chambers grow in size their high voltage requirements increase, and detailed, reproducible studies of dielectric breakdown and the onset of electroluminescence are needed to inform their design. The Xenon Breakdown Apparatus (XeBrA) is a 5-liter cryogenic chamber built to characterize the DC high voltage breakdown behavior of liquid xenon and liquid argon. Electrodes with areas up to 33~cm$^2$ were tested while varying the cathode-anode separation from 1 to 6~mm with a voltage difference up to 75~kV. A power-law relationship between breakdown field and electrode area was observed. The breakdown behavior of liquid argon and liquid xenon within the same experimental apparatus was comparable.
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. 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.
The prevalent use of large volume liquid argon detectors strongly motivates the development of novel readout and monitoring technology which functions at cryogenic temperatures. This paper presents the development of a cryogenic CMOS camera system suitable for use inside a large volume liquid argon detector for online monitoring purposes. The characterisation of the system is described in detail. The reliability of such a camera system has been demonstrated over several months, and recent data from operation within the liquid argon region of the DUNE 35tcryostat is presented. The cameras were used to monitor for high voltage breakdown inside the cryostat, with capability to observe breakdown of a liquid argon time projection chamber in situ. They were also used for detector monitoring, especially of components during cooldown.
High pressure gas time projection chambers (HPGTPCs) are made with a variety of materials, many of which have not been well characterized in high pressure noble gas environments. As HPGTPCs are scaled up in size toward ton-scale detectors, assemblies become larger and more complex, creating a need for detailed understanding of how structural supports and high voltage insulators behave. This includes the identification of materials with predictable mechanical properties and without surface charge accumulation that may lead to field deformation or sparking. This paper explores the mechanical and electrical effects of high pressure gas environments on insulating polymers PTFE, HDPE, PEEK, POM and UHMW in Argon and Xenon, including studying absorption, swelling and high voltage insulation strength.
Scintillation from noble gases is an important technique in particle physics including neutrino beam experiments, neutrino-less double beta-decay and dark matter searches. In liquid argon, the possibility of enhancing the light yield by the addition of a small quantity of xenon (doping at 10-1000 ppm) has been of particular interest. While the pathway for energy transfer between argon and xenon excimers is well known, the time-dependence of the process has not been fully studied in the context of a physics-based model. In this paper we present a model of the energy transfer process together with a fit to xenon-doped argon data. We have measured the diffusion limited rate constant as a function of xenon dopant. We find that the time dependence of the energy transfer is consistent with diffusion-limited reactions. Additionally, we find that commercially obtained argon can have a small xenon component (4 ppm). Our result will facilitate the use of xenon-doped liquid argon in future experiments.
Particle detectors based on liquid argon (LAr) have recently become recognized as an extremely attractive technology for the direct detection of dark matter as well as the measurement of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CE$ u$NS). The Chinese argon group at Institute of High Energy Physics has been studying the LAr detector technology and a LAr detector has been operating steadily. A program of using a dual phase LAr detector to measure the CE$ u$NS at Taishang Nuclear Power Plant has been proposed and the R&D work is ongoing. Considering the requirements of ultra-low radio-purity and high photon collection efficiency, SiPMs will be a good choice and will be used in the detector. In this proceeding, an introduction of the LAr detector and the measurement results of SiPM array at LAr temperature will be presented.
L. Tvrznikova
,E. P. Bernard
,S. Kravitz
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(2019)
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"Direct comparison of high voltage breakdown measurements in liquid argon and liquid xenon"
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Lucie Tvrznikova
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