Low energy measurements with Helium Micromegas micro-TPC

TL;DR

This paper presents an experimental setup using a Helium-filled Micromegas micro-TPC to measure low-energy ionization quenching factors, crucial for applications in particle physics and cosmology.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method for systematic measurement of ionization quenching factors at keV energies using a Micromegas detector in a micro-TPC.

Findings

Successful measurement of ionization in Helium at low energies.

Development of a dedicated experimental setup for low-energy ionization measurements.

Enhanced understanding of ionization quenching factors at keV energies.

Abstract

The measurement of the ionization produced by particles in a medium presents a great interest in several fields from metrology to particule physics and cosmology. The ionization quenching factor is defined as the fraction of energy released by ionisation by a recoil in a medium compared with its kinetic energy. At low energy, in the range of a few keV, the ionization falls rapidly and systematic measurement are needed. We have developped an experimental setup devoted to the measurement of low energy (keV) ionization quenching factor for the MIMAC project. The ionization produced in the gas has been measured with a Micromegas detector filled with Helium gas mixture.