Speaker
Description
Time Projection Chambers (TPCs) use various chemical species as detection media, depending on the specific application, the required sensitivities, and the types of particles being measured. Xenon is useful but of limited availability, and non-xenon double beta decay TPCs may need to choose unfamiliar, probably toxic, gases. We aim to design and build a cylindrical proportional counter that works as a test bed for sulfur-bearing compounds, like $H_2S$ and $C_4H_4S$, and then experiment with selenium-bearing compounds like $H_2Se$ and $C_4H_4Se$ that could be used as gain gases in detectors for future double beta decay searches. These gases have been selected as they have been shown to exhibit electropositive behavior in numerical calculations. The proposed setup is unique because it is designed to have the highly toxic and corrosive gases mentioned above as its operating media, and it can also operate at elevated temperatures. Calibration will be achieved using an iron-55 X-ray source. Later upgrades to the setup will also enable the determination of drift velocities. These measurements will allow us to determine the mobility of the gas and assess its effectiveness as a drift gas in radiation detection. The results obtained on a steam run will be discussed, and the prospects of moving on to the gases of interest will follow to look for other suitable gas mixtures. The results from this project will be applied to further studies on other promising gain gases for future dark matter detection and double beta decay experiments.
