Light Yield in DarkSide-10: a Prototype Two-phase Liquid Argon TPC for Dark Matter Searches
Abstract
As part of the DarkSide program of direct dark matter searches using liquid argon TPCs, a prototype detector with an active volume containing 10 kg of liquid argon, DarkSide-10, was built and operated underground in the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy. A critically important parameter for such devices is the scintillation light yield, as photon statistics limits the rejection of electron-recoil backgrounds by pulse shape discrimination. We have measured the light yield of DarkSide-10 using the readily-identifiable full-absorption peaks from gamma ray sources combined with single-photoelectron calibrations using low-occupancy laser pulses. For gamma lines of energies in the range 122-1275 keV, we get consistent light yields averaging 8.887+-0.003(stat)+-0.444(sys) p.e./keVee. With additional purification, the light yield measured at 511 keV increased to 9.142+-0.006(stat) p.e./keVee.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1204.6218,
title = {Light Yield in DarkSide-10: a Prototype Two-phase Liquid Argon TPC for Dark Matter Searches},
author = {T. Alexander and D. Alton and K. Arisaka and H. O. Back and P. Beltrame and J. Benziger and G. Bonfini and A. Brigatti and J. Brodsky and L. Cadonati and F. Calaprice and A. Candela and H. Cao and P. Cavalcante and A. Chavarria and A. Chepurnov and D. Cline and A. G. Cocco and C. Condon and D. D'Angelo and S. Davini and E. De Haas and A. Derbin and G. Di Pietro and I. Dratchnev and D. Durben and A. Empl and A. Etenko and A. Fan and G. Fiorillo and K. Fomenko and F. Gabriele and C. Galbiati and S. Gazzana and C. Ghag and C. Ghiano and A. Goretti and L. Grandi and M. Gromov and M. Guan and C. Guo and G. Guray and E. V. Hungerford and Al. Ianni and An. Ianni and A. Kayunov and K. Keeter and C. Kendziora and S. Kidner and V. Kobychev and G. Koh and D. Korablev and G. Korga and E. Shields and P. Li and B. Loer and P. Lombardi and C. Love and L. Ludhova and L. Lukyanchenko and A. Lund and K. Lung and Y. Ma and I. Machulin and J. Maricic and C. J. Martoff and Y. Meng and E. Meroni and P. D. Meyers and T. Mohayai and D. Montanari and M. Montuschi and P. Mosteiro and B. Mount and V. Muratova and A. Nelson and A. Nemtzow and N. Nurakhov and M. Orsini and F. Ortica and M. Pallavicini and E. Pantic and S. Parmeggiano and R. Parsells and N. Pelliccia and L. Perasso and F. Perfetto and L. Pinsky and A. Pocar and S. Pordes and G. Ranucci and A. Razeto and A. Romani and N. Rossi and P. Saggese and R. Saldanha and C. Salvo and W. Sands and M. Seigar and D. Semenov and M. Skorokhvatov and O. Smirnov and A. Sotnikov and S. Sukhotin and Y. Suvorov and R. Tartaglia and J. Tatarowicz and G. Testera and A. Teymourian and J. Thompson and E. Unzhakov and R. B. Vogelaar and H. Wang and S. Westerdale and M. Wojcik and A. Wright and J. Xu and C. Yang and S. Zavatarelli and M. Zehfus and W. Zhong and G. Zuzel},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1204.6218},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
10 pages, 7 figures, Accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physics