Light Yield in DarkSide-10: a Prototype Two-phase Liquid Argon TPC for Dark Matter Searches
Creators: name: Alexander, T.
name: Alton, D.
name: Arisaka, K.
name: Back, H. O.
name: Beltrame, P.
name: Benziger, J.
name: Bonfini, G.
name: Brigatti, A.
name: Brodsky, J.
name: Cadonati, L.
name: Calaprice, F.
name: Candela, A.
name: Cao, H.
name: Cavalcante, P.
name: Chavarria, A.
name: Chepurnov, A.
name: Cline, D.
name: Cocco, A. G.
name: Condon, C.
name: D'Angelo, D.
name: Davini, S.
name: De Haas, E.
name: Derbin, A.
name: Di Pietro, G.
name: Dratchnev, I.
name: Durben, D.
name: Empl, A.
name: Etenko, A.
name: Fan, A.
name: Fiorillo, G.
name: Fomenko, K.
name: Gabriele, F.
name: Galbiati, C.
name: Gazzana, S.
name: Ghag, C.
name: Ghiano, C.
name: Goretti, A.
name: Grandi, L.
name: Gromov, M.
name: Guan, M.
name: Guo, C.
name: Guray, G.
name: Hungerford, E. V.
name: Ianni, Al.
name: Ianni, An.
name: Kayunov, A.
name: Keeter, K.
name: Kendziora, C.
name: Kidner, S.
name: Kobychev, V.
name: Koh, G.
name: Korablev, D.
name: Korga, G.
name: Shields, E.
name: Li, P.
name: Loer, B.
name: Lombardi, P.
name: Love, C.
name: Ludhova, L.
name: Lukyanchenko, L.
name: Lund, A.
name: Lung, K.
name: Ma, Y.
name: Machulin, I.
name: Maricic, J.
name: Martoff, C. J.
name: Meng, Y.
name: Meroni, E.
name: Meyers, P. D.
name: Mohayai, T.
name: Montanari, D.
name: Montuschi, M.
name: Mosteiro, P.
name: Mount, B.
name: Muratova, V.
name: Nelson, A.
name: Nemtzow, A.
name: Nurakhov, N.
name: Orsini, M.
name: Ortica, F.
name: Pallavicini, M.
name: Pantic, E.
name: Parmeggiano, S.
name: Parsells, R.
name: Pelliccia, N.
name: Perasso, L.
name: Perfetto, F.
name: Pinsky, L.
name: Pocar, A.
name: Pordes, S.
name: Ranucci, G.
name: Razeto, A.
name: Romani, A.
name: Rossi, N.
name: Saggese, P.
name: Saldanha, R.
name: Salvo, C.
name: Sands, W.
name: Seigar, M.
name: Semenov, D.
name: Skorokhvatov, M.
name: Smirnov, O.
name: Sotnikov, A.
name: Sukhotin, S.
name: Suvorov, Y.
name: Tartaglia, R.
name: Tatarowicz, J.
name: Testera, G.
name: Teymourian, A.
name: Thompson, J.
name: Unzhakov, E.
name: Vogelaar, R. B.
name: Wang, H.
name: Westerdale, S.
name: Wojcik, M.
name: Wright, A.
name: Xu, J.
name: Yang, C.
name: Zavatarelli, S.
name: Zehfus, M.
name: Zhong, W.
name: Zuzel, G.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM)
subject: High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: As part of the DarkSide program of direct dark matter searches using liquid argon TPCs, a prototype detector with an active volume containing 10 kg of liquid argon, DarkSide-10, was built and operated underground in the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy. A critically important parameter for such devices is the scintillation light yield, as photon statistics limits the rejection of electron-recoil backgrounds by pulse shape discrimination. We have measured the light yield of DarkSide-10 using the readily-identifiable full-absorption peaks from gamma ray sources combined with single-photoelectron calibrations using low-occupancy laser pulses. For gamma lines of energies in the range 122-1275 keV, we get consistent light yields averaging 8.887+-0.003(stat)+-0.444(sys) p.e./keVee. With additional purification, the light yield measured at 511 keV increased to 9.142+-0.006(stat) p.e./keVee.
description: 10 pages, 7 figures, Accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physics