A Noble Gas Detector with Electroluminescence Readout based on an Array of APDs

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a noble gas detector using an array of avalanche photodiodes (APDs) with electroluminescence readout, achieving good energy resolution in xenon and argon gases, and suggests improvements through sensor pitch reduction.

Contribution

It introduces a novel APD array-based electroluminescence detector for noble gases, with detailed performance measurements and potential enhancements via sensor configuration.

Findings

Achieved 5.3% FWHM energy resolution at 60 keV in xenon

Achieved 9.4% FWHM energy resolution at 60 keV in argon

Performance can be improved by reducing sensor pitch

Abstract

We present the results of the operation of an array of avalanche photodiodes (APDs) for the readout of an electroluminescence detector. The detector contains 24 APDs with a pitch of 15 mm between them allowing energy and position measurements simultaneously. Measurements were performed in xenon (3.8 bar) and argon (4.8 bar) showing a good energy resolution of 5.3% FWHM at 60 keV in xenon and 9.4% in argon respectively. Following Monte Carlo studies the performance could be improved significantly by reducing the pitch between the sensors.