Preparation of Neutron-activated Xenon for Liquid Xenon Detector Calibration

Abstract

We report the preparation of neutron-activated xenon for the calibration of liquid xenon (LXe) detectors. Gamma rays from the decay of xenon metastable states, produced by fast neutron activation, were detected and their activities measured in a LXe scintillation detector. Following a five-day activation of natural xenon gas with a Cf-252 (4 x 10^5 n/s) source, the activities of two gamma ray lines at 164 keV and 236 keV, from Xe-131m and Xe-129m metastable states, were measured at about 95 and 130 Bq/kg, respectively. We also observed three additional lines at 35 keV, 100 keV and 275 keV, which decay away within a few days. No long-lifetime activity was observed after the neutron activation.

arXiv commentto be published in NIM A, corrected typos in Table 1 and Fig.6 of the previous version

References in corpus (6)

• First Results from the XENON10 Dark Matter Experiment at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory
• Detection of very small neutrino masses in double-beta decay using laser tagging
• First limits on WIMP nuclear recoil signals in ZEPLIN-II: a two phase xenon detector for dark matter detection
• The ZEPLIN-III dark matter detector: instrument design, manufacture and commissioning
• XENON: a 1 tonne Liquid Xenon Experiment for a Sensitive Dark Matter Search
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• Constraints on inelastic dark matter from XENON10
• Calibration of a Liquid Xenon Detector with Kr-83m
• Spatially uniform calibration of a liquid xenon detector at low energies using 83m-Kr
• Projected sensitivity of the LUX-ZEPLIN experiment to the $0\nu \beta \beta$ decay of ${}^{136}$Xe
• Calibration of liquid argon and neon detectors with ${}^{83}K{r}^m$
• A 83Krm Source for Use in Low-background Liquid Xenon Time Projection Chambers
• Feasibility Study to use Neutron Capture for an Ultra-low Energy Nuclear-recoil Calibration in Liquid Xenon
• High Resolution Gamma Ray Detection in a Dual Phase Xenon Time Projection Chamber
• Feasibility of Liquid-phase Xenon Proportional Scintillation for Low-energy Physics
• Development of a ${}^{127}$Xe calibration source for nEXO