Design and operation of a spark chamber for vacuum ultraviolet light production

Abstract

Noble liquids, notably argon and xenon, are utilised as both detector media and as the detector target for dark matter and neutrino physics experiments. When the noble liquid is excited by particles, it scintillates vacuum ultraviolet light, which sensors then detect. A major focus of the detector development community is on producing precision light sensors for noble liquid detectors. We introduce a flash lamp to test light sensors with light at wavelengths observed at noble liquid detectors. This paper discusses the design and presents results from a spark chamber prototype operated at room temperature.

Figures (7)

• Figure S1: Diagram of the flash lamp chamber with an interior view of the electrodes and filter.
• Figure S2: Diagram of the flash lamp chamber, looking at it from the side (left) and front (right) of the device.
• Figure S3: Diagram of the electrical circuit for the spark generation. The circuit consists of two parts: the first part is the low voltage (LV), and the second part is the high voltage (HV).
• Figure S4: Spectrum of light collected over two seconds of pulsed sparking between two electrodes. The electrodes were at a distance of 1.8 mm at a frequency of 10 Hz, while the chamber had argon at a pressure of approximately 4.5 mbar. The identified elements of the peaks are labelled.
• Figure S5: Measurements of light from the flash lamp without a filter in the filtering window for the normal and VUV-sensitive SiPMs. The SiPM optimised for visible light detected less light than the saturated VUV-sensitive SiPM.