A measurement of the absorption of liquid argon scintillation light by dissolved nitrogen at the part-per-million level
We report on a measurement of the absorption length of scintillation light in liquid argon due to dissolved nitrogen at the part-per-million (ppm) level. We inject controlled quantities of nitrogen into a high purity volume of liquid argon and monitor the light yield from an alpha source. The source...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
| Published: |
Institute of Physics Publishing
2014
|
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/88284 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9429-9482 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6393-0438 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6243-1453 |
| _version_ | 1826214057650159616 |
|---|---|
| author | Jones, Benjamin James Poyner Chiu, C. S. Conrad, Janet Ignarra, Christina Katori, Teppei Toups, Matthew |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics Jones, Benjamin James Poyner Chiu, C. S. Conrad, Janet Ignarra, Christina Katori, Teppei Toups, Matthew |
| author_sort | Jones, Benjamin James Poyner |
| collection | MIT |
| description | We report on a measurement of the absorption length of scintillation light in liquid argon due to dissolved nitrogen at the part-per-million (ppm) level. We inject controlled quantities of nitrogen into a high purity volume of liquid argon and monitor the light yield from an alpha source. The source is placed at different distances from a cryogenic photomultiplier tube assembly. By comparing the light yield from each position we extract the absorption cross section of nitrogen. We find that nitrogen absorbs argon scintillation light with strength of (1.51±0.15) × 10[superscript −4] cm[superscript −1]ppm[superscript −1], corresponding to an absorption cross section of (4.99±0.51) × 10[superscript −21] cm[superscript 2]molecule[superscript −1]. We obtain the relationship between absorption length and nitrogen concentration over the 0 to 50 ppm range and discuss the implications for the design and data analysis of future large liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) detectors. Our results indicate that for a current-generation LArTPC, where a concentration of 2 parts per million of nitrogen is expected, the attenuation length due to nitrogen will be 30±3 meters. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T15:59:07Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/88284 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T15:59:07Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | Institute of Physics Publishing |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/882842022-09-29T17:27:10Z A measurement of the absorption of liquid argon scintillation light by dissolved nitrogen at the part-per-million level Jones, Benjamin James Poyner Chiu, C. S. Conrad, Janet Ignarra, Christina Katori, Teppei Toups, Matthew Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Laboratory for Nuclear Science Jones, Benjamin James Poyner Chiu, C. S. Conrad, Janet Ignarra, Christina Katori, Teppei Toups, Matthew We report on a measurement of the absorption length of scintillation light in liquid argon due to dissolved nitrogen at the part-per-million (ppm) level. We inject controlled quantities of nitrogen into a high purity volume of liquid argon and monitor the light yield from an alpha source. The source is placed at different distances from a cryogenic photomultiplier tube assembly. By comparing the light yield from each position we extract the absorption cross section of nitrogen. We find that nitrogen absorbs argon scintillation light with strength of (1.51±0.15) × 10[superscript −4] cm[superscript −1]ppm[superscript −1], corresponding to an absorption cross section of (4.99±0.51) × 10[superscript −21] cm[superscript 2]molecule[superscript −1]. We obtain the relationship between absorption length and nitrogen concentration over the 0 to 50 ppm range and discuss the implications for the design and data analysis of future large liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) detectors. Our results indicate that for a current-generation LArTPC, where a concentration of 2 parts per million of nitrogen is expected, the attenuation length due to nitrogen will be 30±3 meters. National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF-PHY-1205175) United States. Dept. of Energy (DE-FG02-91ER40661) 2014-07-11T18:17:35Z 2014-07-11T18:17:35Z 2013-07 2013-06 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1748-0221 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/88284 Jones, B J P, C S Chiu, J M Conrad, C M Ignarra, T Katori, and M Toups. “A Measurement of the Absorption of Liquid Argon Scintillation Light by Dissolved Nitrogen at the Part-Per-Million Level.” Journal of Instrumentation 8, no. 07 (July 24, 2013): P07011–P07011. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9429-9482 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6393-0438 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6243-1453 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/8/07/p07011 Journal of Instrumentation Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ application/pdf Institute of Physics Publishing arXiv |
| spellingShingle | Jones, Benjamin James Poyner Chiu, C. S. Conrad, Janet Ignarra, Christina Katori, Teppei Toups, Matthew A measurement of the absorption of liquid argon scintillation light by dissolved nitrogen at the part-per-million level |
| title | A measurement of the absorption of liquid argon scintillation light by dissolved nitrogen at the part-per-million level |
| title_full | A measurement of the absorption of liquid argon scintillation light by dissolved nitrogen at the part-per-million level |
| title_fullStr | A measurement of the absorption of liquid argon scintillation light by dissolved nitrogen at the part-per-million level |
| title_full_unstemmed | A measurement of the absorption of liquid argon scintillation light by dissolved nitrogen at the part-per-million level |
| title_short | A measurement of the absorption of liquid argon scintillation light by dissolved nitrogen at the part-per-million level |
| title_sort | measurement of the absorption of liquid argon scintillation light by dissolved nitrogen at the part per million level |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/88284 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9429-9482 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6393-0438 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6243-1453 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jonesbenjaminjamespoyner ameasurementoftheabsorptionofliquidargonscintillationlightbydissolvednitrogenatthepartpermillionlevel AT chiucs ameasurementoftheabsorptionofliquidargonscintillationlightbydissolvednitrogenatthepartpermillionlevel AT conradjanet ameasurementoftheabsorptionofliquidargonscintillationlightbydissolvednitrogenatthepartpermillionlevel AT ignarrachristina ameasurementoftheabsorptionofliquidargonscintillationlightbydissolvednitrogenatthepartpermillionlevel AT katoriteppei ameasurementoftheabsorptionofliquidargonscintillationlightbydissolvednitrogenatthepartpermillionlevel AT toupsmatthew ameasurementoftheabsorptionofliquidargonscintillationlightbydissolvednitrogenatthepartpermillionlevel AT jonesbenjaminjamespoyner measurementoftheabsorptionofliquidargonscintillationlightbydissolvednitrogenatthepartpermillionlevel AT chiucs measurementoftheabsorptionofliquidargonscintillationlightbydissolvednitrogenatthepartpermillionlevel AT conradjanet measurementoftheabsorptionofliquidargonscintillationlightbydissolvednitrogenatthepartpermillionlevel AT ignarrachristina measurementoftheabsorptionofliquidargonscintillationlightbydissolvednitrogenatthepartpermillionlevel AT katoriteppei measurementoftheabsorptionofliquidargonscintillationlightbydissolvednitrogenatthepartpermillionlevel AT toupsmatthew measurementoftheabsorptionofliquidargonscintillationlightbydissolvednitrogenatthepartpermillionlevel |