Effect of an electric field on superfluid helium scintillation produced by alpha-particle sources
| Title: | Effect of an electric field on superfluid helium scintillation produced by alpha-particle sources |
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| Authors: | Ito, T. M., Clayton, S. M., Ramsey, J., Karcz, M., Liu, C. -Y., Long, J. C., Reddy, T. G., Seidel, G. M. |
| Source: | Phys. Rev. A 85, 042718 (2012) |
| Publication Year: | 2011 |
| Collection: | Nuclear Experiment Physics (Other) |
| Subject Terms: | Nuclear Experiment, Physics - Atomic Physics, Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors |
| More Details: | We report a study of the intensity and time dependence of scintillation produced by weak alpha particle sources in superfluid helium in the presence of an electric field (0 - 45 kV/cm) in the temperature range of 0.2 K to 1.1 K at the saturated vapor pressure. Both the prompt and the delayed components of the scintillation exhibit a reduction in intensity with the application of an electric field. The reduction in the intensity of the prompt component is well approximated by a linear dependence on the electric field strength with a reduction of 15% at 45 kV/cm. When analyzed using the Kramers theory of columnar recombination, this electric field dependence leads to the conclusion that roughly 40% of the scintillation results from species formed from atoms originally promoted to excited states and 60% from excimers created by ionization and subsequent recombination with the charges initially having a cylindrical Gaussian distribution about the alpha track of 60 nm radius. The intensity of the delayed component of the scintillation has a stronger dependence on the electric field strength and on temperature. The implications of these data on the mechanisms affecting scintillation in liquid helium are discussed. Comment: 17 pages, 23 figures |
| Document Type: | Working Paper |
| DOI: | 10.1103/PhysRevA.85.042718 |
| Access URL: | http://arxiv.org/abs/1110.0570 |
| Accession Number: | edsarx.1110.0570 |
| Database: | arXiv |
| DOI: | 10.1103/PhysRevA.85.042718 |
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