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Toward Application of a Thick Gas Electron Multiplier (THGEM) Readout for a Dark Matter Detector

2007/06/08 by M. Gai, Gai, M., D. N. McKinsey +15
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Instrumentation and Detectors (physics.ins-det) #Nuclear Experiment (nucl-ex) #astro-ph #nucl-ex #physics.ins-det

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0706.1106

To be published in the Proceedings of the 23rd Winter Workshop on Nuclear Dynamics, Big Sky, Montana, February 11-18, 2007. This work is supported by the Yale-Weizmann Collaboration Program of the American Committee on Weizmann Institute of Science (ACWIS), New York

Abstract

The Yale-Weizmann collaboration aims to develop a low-radioactivity (low-background) cryogenic noble liquid detector for Dark-Matter (DM) search in measurements to be performed deep underground as for example carried out by the XENON collaboration. A major issue is the background induced by natural radioactivity of present-detector components including the Photo Multiplier Tubes (PMT) made from glass with large U-Th content. We propose to use advanced Thick Gaseous Electron Multipliers (THGEM) recently developed at the Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS). These "hole-multipliers" will measure in a two-phase (liquid/gas) Xe detector electrons extracted into the gas phase from both ionization in the liquid as well as scintillation-induced photoelectrons from a CsI photocathode immersed in LXe. We report on initial tests (in gas) of THGEM made out of Cirlex (Kapton) which is well known to have low Ra-Th content instead of the usual G10 material with high Ra-Th content.

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