https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-020-08801-2
Regular Article – Experimental Physics
SiPM-matrix readout of two-phase argon detectors using electroluminescence in the visible and near infrared range
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Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 99352, Richland, WA, USA
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Institut de Physique Nuclèaire d’Orsay, 91406, Orsay, France
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Department of Physics, University of Houston, 77204, Houston, TX, USA
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Department of Physics, Carleton University, K1S 5B6, Ottawa, ON, Canada
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Instituto de Física, Universidade de São Paulo, 05508-090, São Paulo, Brazil
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Physics Department, Università degli Studi di Bologna, 40126, Bologna, Italy
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INFN Bologna, 40126, Bologna, Italy
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Physics Department, Augustana University, 57197, Sioux Falls, SD, USA
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TRIUMF, 4004 Wesbrook Mall, V6T 2A3, Vancouver, BC, Canada
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INFN Sezione di Roma, 00185, Rome, Italy
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INFN Cagliari, 09042, Cagliari, Italy
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Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Politecnico di Milano, 20133, Milan, Italy
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INFN Milano, 20133, Milan, Italy
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Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Università degli Studi “Federico II” di Napoli, 80125, Naples, Italy
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INFN Napoli, 80126, Naples, Italy
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Brookhaven National Laboratory, 11973, Upton, NY, USA
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School of Natural Sciences, Black Hills State University, 57799, Spearfish, SD, USA
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Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119234, Moscow, Russia
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CIEMAT, Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas, 28040, Madrid, Spain
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INFN Pisa, 56127, Pisa, Italy
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Physics Department, Università degli Studi di Pisa, 56127, Pisa, Italy
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Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, 630090, Novosibirsk, Russia
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Novosibirsk State University, 630090, Novosibirsk, Russia
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INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, 67100, Assergi, AQ, Italy
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Physics Department, Università degli Studi di Genova, Genoa, 16146, Italy
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INFN Genova, 16146, Genoa, Italy
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INFN Roma Tre, 00146, Rome, Italy
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Mathematics and Physics Department, Università degli Studi Roma Tre, 00146, Rome, Italy
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Physics Department, Università degli Studi di Cagliari, 09042, Cagliari, Italy
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Institute for Particle Physics, ETH Zürich, 8093, Zurich, Switzerland
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Museo della fisica e Centro studi e Ricerche Enrico Fermi, 00184, Rome, Italy
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Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Università degli Studi, 09023, Cagliari, Italy
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Virginia Tech, 24061, Blacksburg, VA, USA
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Physics Department, Università degli Studi “Federico II” di Napoli, 80126, Naples, Italy
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Centro de Astropartículas y Física de Altas Energías, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50009, Zaragoza, Spain
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INFN Torino, 10125, Turin, Italy
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Department of Electronics and Communications, Politecnico di Torino, 10129, Turin, Italy
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Gran Sasso Science Institute, 67100, L’Aquila, Italy
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LPNHE, CNRS/IN2P3, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris Diderot, 75252, Paris, France
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Physics Department, Sapienza Università di Roma, 00185, Rome, Italy
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Physics Department, Universitá degli Studi di Salerno, 84084, Salerno, Italy
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INFN Salerno, 84084, Salerno, Italy
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Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering Department “G. Natta”, Politecnico di Milano, 20133, Milan, Italy
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Chemistry and Pharmacy Department, Università degli Studi di Sassari, 07100, Sassari, Italy
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INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, 95123, Catania, Italy
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Interuniversity Consortium for Science and Technology of Materials, 50121, Florence, Italy
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Saint Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute, 188350, Gatchina, Russia
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Physics Department, Princeton University, 08544, Princeton, NJ, USA
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Department of Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy, Queen’s University, K7L 3N6, Kingston, ON, Canada
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National Research Centre Kurchatov Institute, 123182, Moscow, Russia
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Amherst Center for Fundamental Interactions and Physics Department, University of Massachusetts, 01003, Amherst, MA, USA
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National Institute for R&D of Isotopic and Molecular Technologies, 400293, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
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Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, 141980, Dubna, Russia
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INFN Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, 00044, Frascati, Italy
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APC, Université Paris Diderot, CNRS/IN2P3, CEA/Irfu, Obs de Paris, USPC, 75205, Paris, France
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Department of Chemistry, University of Crete, P.O. Box 2208, 71003, Heraklion, Crete, Greece
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Universitat de Barcelona, 08028, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
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M. Smoluchowski Institute of Physics, Jagiellonian University, 30-348, Kraków, Poland
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National Research Nuclear University MEPhI, 115409, Moscow, Russia
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Institute of High Energy Physics, 100049, Beijing, China
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Engineering and Architecture Faculty, Università di Enna Kore, 94100, Enna, Italy
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Department of Physics and Engineering, Fort Lewis College, 81301, Durango, CO, USA
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Department of Physics, University of Alberta, T6G 2R3, Edmonton, AB, Canada
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Centre de Physique des Particules de Marseille, Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS/IN2P3, CPPM, Marseille, France
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Department of Physics and Astronomy, Laurentian University, P3E 2C6, Sudbury, ON, Canada
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SNOLAB, P3Y 1N2, Lively, ON, Canada
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Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, 60510, Batavia, IL, USA
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Radiation Physics Laboratory, Belgorod National Research University, 308007, Belgorod, Russia
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Pharmacy Department, Università degli Studi “Federico II” di Napoli, 80131, Naples, Italy
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Electronics, Information, and Bioengineering Department, Politecnico di Milano, 20133, Milan, Italy
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Energy Department, Politecnico di Milano, 20133, Milan, Italy
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Physics Institute, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, 13083, Campinas, Brazil
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Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Hawai’i, 96822, Honolulu, HI, USA
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ARAID, Fundación Agencia Aragonesa para la Investigación y el Desarrollo, Gobierno de Aragón, 50018, Zaragoza, Spain
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Department of Mechanical, Chemical, and Materials Engineering, Università degli Studi, 09042, Cagliari, Italy
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Department of Physics, Royal Holloway University of London, TW20 0EX, Egham, UK
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CERN, European Organization for Nuclear Research, 1211, Geneva 23, Switzerland
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Lancaster University, LA1 4YW, Lancaster, UK
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Chemistry, Biology and Biotechnology Department, Università degli Studi di Perugia, 06123, Perugia, Italy
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INFN Perugia, 06123, Perugia, Italy
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Department of Physics, University of California, 95616, Davis, CA, USA
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Physics and Astronomy, University of Sussex, BN1 9QH, Brighton, UK
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Physik Department, Technische Universität München, 80333, Munich, Germany
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The University of Manchester, M13 9PL, Manchester, UK
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Physics Department, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20133, Milan, Italy
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Chemical, Materials, and Industrial Production Engineering Department, Università degli Studi “Federico II” di Napoli, 80126, Naples, Italy
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Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), 01000, México, Mexico
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Physics and Astronomy Department, University of California, 90095, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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Institute of Applied Radiation Chemistry, Lodz University of Technology, 93-590, Lodz, Poland
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INFN, Rome, Italy
Received:
6
April
2020
Accepted:
23
December
2020
Published online:
15
February
2021
Proportional electroluminescence (EL) in noble gases is used in two-phase detectors for dark matter searches to record (in the gas phase) the ionization signal induced by particle scattering in the liquid phase. The “standard” EL mechanism is considered to be due to noble gas excimer emission in the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV). In addition, there are two alternative mechanisms, producing light in the visible and near infrared (NIR) ranges. The first is due to bremsstrahlung of electrons scattered on neutral atoms (“neutral bremsstrahlung”, NBrS). The second, responsible for electron avalanche scintillation in the NIR at higher electric fields, is due to transitions between excited atomic states. In this work, we have for the first time demonstrated two alternative techniques of the optical readout of two-phase argon detectors, in the visible and NIR range, using a silicon photomultiplier matrix and electroluminescence due to either neutral bremsstrahlung or avalanche scintillation. The amplitude yield and position resolution were measured for these readout techniques, which allowed to assess the detection threshold for electron and nuclear recoils in two-phase argon detectors for dark matter searches. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first practical application of the NBrS effect in detection science.
© The Author(s) 2021
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