On the possibility of positive-ion detection in gaseous TPCs and its potential use for neutrinoless double beta decay searches in Xe-136

Abstract

The neutralization of slow positive ions on solid surfaces can lead to the emission of secondary electrons in Auger-type processes. We discuss the possibility of harnessing such mechanisms to the detection of positive ions in gaseous TPCs. Applied to high pressure xenon, the proposed idea may enable reconstructing with high accuracy the topology of candidate neutrinoless double beta decay events of Xe-136 without sacrificing the energy resolution of pure Xe gas. Candidate secondary electron emitters are discussed, as well as the expected efficiencies, challenges and potential pitfalls.

Submitted to the Proceedings of the 8th Symposium on Large TPCs for Low-Energy Rare Event Detection

References in corpus (9)

• A concise review on THGEM detectors
• Advances in Gaseous Photomultipliers
• High Quantum Efficiency Ultrananocrystalline Diamond Photocathode: Negative Electron Affinity Meets $n$-doping
• PandaX-III: Searching for Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay with High Pressure Gaseous Time Projection Chambers
• An homeopathic cure to pure Xenon large diffusion
• PandaX-III: Searching for Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay with High Pressure ${}^{136}$Xe Gas Time Projection Chambers
• Ion-induced secondary electron emission from K-Cs-Sb, Na-K-Sb and Cs-Sb photocathodes and its relevance to the operation of gaseous avalanche photomultipliers
• Photoelectron track length distributions measured in a negative ion time projection chamber
• Observation of electron excitation into silicon conduction band by slow-ion surface neutralization

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Gaseous and dual-phase time projection chambers for imaging rare processes