Absolute number of photons produced by alpha-particles in liquid and gaseous xenon

Abstract The W s which is defined as an average energy expended per scintillation photon, was found to be 16.3 ± 0.3 eV for alpha-particles in liquid xenon, and 49.6 ± 1.1 eV in gaseous xenon, respectively. These results followed from the number of photoelectrons measured with a VUV sensitive photomultiplier tube, which was used as a photodiode. The number of photoelectrons from the photomultiplier photocathode was measured absolutely with a well calibrated charge sensitive amplifier system as a function of distance between the alpha-source and the photomultiplier photocathode. The detection geometries included both reflective and nonreflective walls. The data were well fitted to corresponding curves obtained with a Monte Carlo simulation, and yielded the total number of scintillation photons.

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