No Arabic abstract
Directional detection of nuclear recoils is appealing because it can confirm the cosmological origin of a dark matter signal and distinguish between different neutrino sources. Gas Time Projection Chambers (TPCs) enable directional recoil detection due to the high spatial granularity with which they can image a recoils ionization track, especially if micro-pattern gaseous detectors (MPGDs) are utilized. A key challenge in these detectors at low energies is identifying and rejecting background electron recoil events cause by gamma rays from radioactive contaminants in the detector materials and the environment. For gas TPCs with high readout segmentation, we can define observables that can distinguish electron and nuclear recoils, even at keV-scale energies, based on the measured ionizations topology. We define such observables and show that they outperform the traditionally used discriminant, dE/dx, by up to three orders of magnitude. Furthermore, these new observables work well even at ionization energies below 10 keV and remain robust even in the regime where directionality fails.
We develop and validate a new algorithm called primary track recovery (ptr) that effectively deconvolves known physics and detector effects from nuclear recoil track in gas Time Projection Chambers (TPCs) with high-resolution readout. This gives access to the primary track charge, length, and vector direction (helping to resolve the head-tail ambiguity). Additionally, ptr provides a measurement of the longitudinal and transverse diffusion widths, which can be used to determine the absolute position of tracks in the drift direction for detector fiducialization. Using simulated neutron recoils we compare the performance of ptr to traditional methods for all key track variables and find that it substantially reduces a wide range of reconstruction errors, including those caused by charge integration. We show that ptr significantly improves on existing methods for head-tail disambiguation, particularly for highly inclined tracks. We demonstrate that ptr improves on existing methods for determining the absolute position of recoils on the drift axis via transverse diffusion by properly removing previously undescribed track width biases. We use experimental data to qualitatively verify these findings and discuss implications for future directional detectors at the low-energy frontier.
A simple but novel driver system has been developed to operate the wire gating grid of a Time Projection Chamber (TPC). This system connects the wires of the gating grid to its driver via low impedance transmission lines. When the gating grid is open, all wires have the same voltage allowing drift electrons, produced by the ionization of the detector gas molecules, to pass through to the anode wires. When the grid is closed, the wires have alternating higher and lower voltages causing the drift electrons to terminate at the more positive wires. Rapid opening of the gating grid with low pickup noise is achieved by quickly shorting the positive and negative wires to attain the average bias potential with N-type and P-type MOSFET switches. The circuit analysis and simulation software SPICE shows that the driver restores the gating grid voltage to 90% of the opening voltage in less than 0.20 $mu$s. When tested in the experimental environment of a time projection chamber larger termination resistors were chosen so that the driver opens the gating grid in 0.35 $mu$s. In each case, opening time is basically characterized by the RC constant given by the resistance of the switches and terminating resistors and the capacitance of the gating grid and its transmission line. By adding a second pair of N-type and P-type MOSFET switches, the gating grid is closed by restoring 99% of the original charges to the wires within 3 $mu$s.
We develop a novel approach for a Time Projection Chamber (TPC) concept suitable for deployment in kilotonne scale detectors, with a charge-readout system free from reconstruction ambiguities, and a robust TPC design that reduces high-voltage risks while increasing the coverage of the light collection system. This novel concept could be deployed as a Far Detector module in the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) neutrino-oscillation experiment. For the charge-readout system, we use the charge-collection pixels and associated application-specific integrated circuits currently being developed for the liquid argon (LAr) component of the DUNE Near Detector design, ArgonCube. In addition, we divide the TPC into a number or shorter drift volumes, reducing the total voltage used to drift the ionisation electrons, and minimising the stored energy per TPC. Segmenting the TPC also contains scintillation light, allowing for precise trigger localisation and a more expansive light-readout system. Furthermore, the design opens the possibility of replacing or upgrading components. These augmentations could substantially improve reliability and sensitivity, particularly for low energy signals, in comparison to a traditional monolithic LArTPCs with projective charge-readout.
Searching for the Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay (NLDBD) is now regarded as the topmost promising technique to explore the nature of neutrinos after the discovery of neutrino masses in oscillation experiments. PandaX-III (Particle And Astrophysical Xenon Experiment III) will search for the NLDBD of $^{136}$Xe at the China Jin Ping underground Laboratory (CJPL). In the first phase of the experiment, a high pressure gas Time Projection Chamber (TPC) will contain 200 kg, 90% $^{136}$Xe enriched gas operated at 10 bar. Fine pitch micro-pattern gas detector (Microbulk Micromegas) will be used at both ends of the TPC for the charge readout with a cathode in the middle. Charge signals can be used to reconstruct tracks of NLDBD events and provide good energy and spatial resolution. The detector will be immersed in a large water tank to ensure $sim$5 m of water shielding in all directions. The second phase, a ton-scale experiment, will consist of five TPCs in the same water tank, with improved energy resolution and better control over backgrounds.
We report the testing of a charcoal-based Kr-83m source for use in calibrating a low background two-phase liquid xenon detector. Kr-83m atoms produced through the decay of Rb-83 are introduced into a xenon detector by flowing xenon gas past the Rb-83 source. 9.4 keV and 32.1 keV transitions from decaying 83Krm nuclei are detected through liquid xenon scintillation and ionization. The characteristics of the Kr-83m source are analyzed and shown to be appropriate for a low background liquid xenon detector. Introduction of Kr-83m allows for quick, periodic calibration of low background noble liquid detectors at low energy.