Measurement of Radiation Damage on Silica Aerogel \v Cerenkov Radiator

TL;DR

This study evaluates the radiation resistance of silica aerogel renkov radiators, showing they maintain transparency and refractive index stability up to 9.8 MRad, indicating suitability for high-radiation environments.

Contribution

The paper provides the first detailed measurements of radiation damage on silica aerogel renkov radiators, demonstrating their robustness up to high doses.

Findings

Transparency deterioration less than 1.3% at 90% confidence

Refractive index change less than 0.001 at 90% confidence

Aerogels remain radiation hard up to 9.8 MRad

Abstract

We measured the radiation damage on silica aerogel \v Cerenkov radiators originally developed for the $B$-factory experiment at KEK. Refractive index of the aerogel samples ranged from 1.012 to 1.028. The samples were irradiated up to 9.8~MRad of equivalent dose. Measurements of transmittance and refractive index were carried out and these samples were found to be radiation hard. Deteriorations in transparency and changes of refractive index were observed to be less than 1.3\% and 0.001 at 90\% confidence level, respectively. Prospects of using aerogels under high-radiation environment are discussed.