Ionisation quenching factors from W-values in pure gases for rare event searches

TL;DR

This paper estimates ionisation quenching factors for various ions in different gases, crucial for low-energy recoil measurements in dark matter experiments, by analyzing W-values and comparing with SRIM predictions.

Contribution

It provides new ionisation quenching factor estimates for multiple gases and ions based on W-value measurements, aiding rare event detection.

Findings

Quenching factors vary with ion type and energy.

Results align with SRIM predictions within uncertainties.

Data supports improved calibration for dark matter detectors.

Abstract

The effect of ionisation quenching for ions is critical for experiments relying on the measurement of low energy recoils, such as direct Dark Matter searches. We present ionisation quenching factor estimates over a range of energies for protons, $\alpha$-particles, and heavier ions in H$_{2}$, CH$_{4}$, N$_{2}$, Ar, CO$_{2}$, and C$_{3}$H$_{8}$ gases, estimated from the respective reference W-value measurements. The resulting ionisation quenching factors are compared with predictions from SRIM.