DireXeno (DIRectinal Xenon), is a unique experimental appartus designed to measure the spatial and temporal properties of scintillation in liquid xenon to very high accuracy. The properties of scintillation are of primary importance for dark matter and neutrinoless double beta decay experiments, however the complicated microphysics involved limits theoretical predictions.
In the heart of DireXeno lies a small spherical cavity inside a thick sphere made of high purity fused silica (HPFS). LXe is circulated through the cavity and serves as a uniform excitation-target.
The sphere is surrounded by 20 photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) facing its center, allowing spatial and temporal measurements of individual photons. The geometry of the detector approximates a point source of scintillation photons, so detailed vertex reconstruction inside the LXe is unnecessary.
Our special coldXEcam captures the status of the sphere. Watch the video below to see the liquid xenon streaming through the sphere, until it calms down at around 03:34 :
DireXeno is made out of three subsystems, and it is located at our laboratory at the Weizmann institute.
Read more here:
- R. Itay, P.Z. Szabo, G. Koltman et al. The DireXeno Experiment -- Measuring Correlated Scintillation Signatures in Liquid Xenon