Electroluminescence yield in pure krypton

TL;DR

This study measures the electroluminescence yield of pure krypton at room temperature, providing experimental data that align with some simulations and highlight differences in ionisation thresholds compared to recent models, with implications for detector design.

Contribution

The paper presents the first detailed experimental measurement of krypton's electroluminescence yield and ionisation threshold, comparing results with existing simulations and data for detector applications.

Findings

Amplification parameter of 113 photons/kV/electron in krypton.

Ionisation threshold around 13.5 Td, lower than recent simulations.

Krypton's electroluminescence yield is 80-140% of xenon and argon.

Abstract

The krypton electroluminescence yield was studied, at room temperature, as a function of electric field in the gas scintillation gap. A large area avalanche photodiode has been used to allow the simultaneous detection of the electroluminescence pulses as well as the direct interaction of x-rays, the latter being used as a reference for the calculation of the number of charge carriers produced by the electroluminescence pulses and, thus, the determination of the number of photons impinging the photodiode. An amplification parameter of 113 photons per kV per drifting electron and a scintillation threshold of 2.7 Td ( 0.7 kV/cm/bar at 293 K ) was obtained, in good agreement with the simulation data reported in the literature. On the other hand, the ionisation threshold in krypton was found to be around 13.5 Td (3.4 kV/cm/bar), less than what had been obtained by the most recent simulation work-package. The krypton amplification parameter is about 80% and 140% of those measured for xenon and argon, respectively. The electroluminescence yield in krypton is of great importance for modeling krypton-based double-phase or high-pressure gas detectors, which may be used in future rare event detection experiments.