We present optical and X-ray radiographical characterization of silica aerogels with refractive index from 1.05 to 1.07 for a Cherenkov radiator. A novel pin-drying method enables us to produce highly transparent hydrophobic aerogels with high refractive index by shrinking wet-gels. In order to investigate the uniformity in the density (i.e., refractive index) of an individual aerogel monolith, we use the laser Fraunhofer method, an X-ray absorption technique, and Cherenkov imaging by a ring imaging Cherenkov detector in a beam test. We observed an increase in density at the edge of the aerogel tiles, produced by pin-drying.
@article{arxiv.1207.3948,
title = {Optical and radiographical characterization of silica aerogel for Cherenkov radiator},
author = {Makoto Tabata and Ichiro Adachi and Yoshikiyo Hatakeyama and Hideyuki Kawai and Takeshi Morita and Keiko Nishikawa},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1207.3948},
year = {2014}
}
Comments
To be published in IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci., 7 pages, 9 figures, 1 table