Suitability of high-pressure xenon as scintillator for gamma ray spectroscopy

In this paper we report the experimental study of high-pressure xenon used as a scintillator, in the context of developing a gamma ray detector. We measure a light yield near 2 photoelectrons per keV for xenon at 40 bar. Together with the light yield, we also measured an energy resolution of ~9% (FWHM) at 662 keV, dominated by the statistical fluctuations in the number of photoelectrons.

GLACIER and related R&D

Liquid argon detectors, with mass up to 100 kton, are being actively studied in the context of proton decay searches, neutrino astrophysics and for the next generation of long baseline neutrino oscillation experiments to study the neutrino mass hierarchy and CP violation in the leptonic sector. The proposed Giant Liquid Argon Charge Imaging ExpeRiment (GLACIER) offers a well defined conceptual design for such a detector. In this paper we present the GLACIER design and some of the R&D activities pursued within the GLACIER.