Related papers: Liquid Xe scintillation calorimetry and Xe optical…
The detection of VUV scintillation light, e.g. in (liquid) argon detectors, commonly includes a reflector with a fluorescent coating, converting UV photons to visible light. The light yield of these detectors depends directly on the…
Refraction is a well-known optical phenomenon that alters the direction of light waves propagating through matter. Microscopes, lenses and prisms based on refraction are indispensable tools for controlling the properties of light beams at…
There are several applications and fundamental research areas which require the detection of VUV light at cryogenic temperatures. For these applications we have developed and successfully tested special designs of gaseous detectors with…
The VOXES project's goal is to realize the first prototype of a high resolution and high precision X-ray spectrometer for diffused sources, using Highly Annealed Pyrolitic Graphite (HAPG) crystals combined with precision position detectors.…
We present a novel analysis technique for liquid xenon time projection chambers that allows for a lower threshold by relying on events with a prompt scintillation signal consisting of single detected photons. The energy threshold of the LUX…
A standard disk around an accreting black hole may become effectively optically-thin and scattering dominated in the inner region, for high accretion rates (as already predicted by the Shakura-Sunyaev model). Radiative emission from that…
Fluctuations in photon production in scintillator could contribute to the total energy resolution of a scintillation detector. This contribution, called intrinsic resolution (IR), is one of the factors limiting the total energy resolution…
A novel experiment for direct searches of the Dark Matter with liquid argon double-phase chamber with a mass of liquid Ar up to several hundred tons is proposed. To suppress the b-, g- and n0- backgrounds, the comparison of scintillation…
We present a novel cryogenic VUV spectrofluorometer designed for the characterization of wavelength shifters (WLS) crucial for experiments based on liquid argon (LAr) scintillation light detection. Wavelength shifters like…
The study of ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) has changed dramatically over the last decade. In this review we first describe the most important observations of ULXs in various wavebands, and across multiple scales in space and time. We…
Optical and radio observations of shock-ionised bubble nebulae surrounding ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) suggest that they are powered by jets or super-critical outflows presumably launched from the ULX accretion disc. Recent…
The low energy (LE) X-ray telescope is one of the three main instruments of the Insight-Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (Insight-HXMT). It is equipped with Swept Charge Device (SCD) sensor arrays with a total geometrical area of 384 cm2 and…
The multi-TeV energy region of the cosmic-ray spectra has been recently explored by direct detection experiments that used calorimetric techniques to measure the energy of the cosmic particles. Interesting spectral features have been…
A small-scale, two-phase (liquid/gas) xenon time projection chamber (Xurich II) was designed, constructed and is under operation at the University of Zurich. Its main purpose is to investigate the microphysics of particle interactions in…
Many rare event searches including dark matter direct detection and neutrinoless double beta decay experiments take advantage of the high VUV reflective surfaces made from polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) reflector materials to achieve high…
The nature of ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) is not yet fully understood but it can be done in the most efficient way by analyzing its optical emission and environment. We present preliminary results of photometric and spectral studies…
We report on the study of a new liquid scintillator target for neutrino interactions in the framework of the research and development program of the BOREXINO solar neutrino experiment. The scintillator consists of…
This is a brief review of liquid scintillators, an important technology for detection of ionizing radiation. We will first review the basic mechanisms of light production in most organic liquid scintillators. For most practical detector…
The ionization of liquefied noble gases by radiation is known to be accompanied by fluctuations much larger than predicted by Poisson statistics. We have studied the fluctuations of both scintillation and ionization in liquid xenon and have…
The interaction of radiation with liquid xenon, inducing both scintillation and ionization signals, is of particular interest for Compton-sequences reconstruction. We report on the development and recent results of a liquid-xenon…