Performance of a large area avalanche photodiode in a liquid xenon ionization and scintillation chamber

Abstract

Scintillation light produced in liquid xenon (LXe) by alpha particles, electrons and gamma-rays was detected with a large area avalanche photodiode (LAAPD) immersed in the liquid. The alpha scintillation yield was measured as a function of applied electric field. We estimate the quantum efficiency of the LAAPD to be 45%. The best energy resolution from the light measurement at zero electric field is 7.5%([sigma]) for 976 keV internal conversion electrons from 207Bi and 2.6%([sigma]) for 5.5 MeV alpha particles from 241Am. The detector used for these measurements was also operated as a gridded ionization chamber to measure the charge yield. We confirm that using a LAAPD in LXe does not introduce impurities which inhibit the drifting of free electrons.