Development of a liquid-xenon photon detector--towards the search for a muon rare decay mode at Paul Scherrer Institute

We are developing a new type of photon detector in preparation of an experiment to search for muons decaying into positrons and gamma rays. In the experiment, the photon detector will utilize liquid xenon (Xe) as the scintillation material because of its fast response, large light yield, and high density. The scintillation light emitted in liquid Xe will be observed directly by positioning photomultipliers (PMTs) in the liquid without using a transmission window. In order to determine proper experimental procedures and to study the detector response to gamma rays, we constructed a prototype utilizing a 100 l volume of liquid Xe. The current status and future prospects of detector development are reported in this article.     

Voice-Band Data Modem Performance Over Companded Delta Modulation Channels

This paper reports upon the results of tests of the transmission of data over single- and multiple-hop companded delta modulation (DM) systems. The DM coder-decoder (CODEC) was optimized for voice transmission. Modem bit error rate (BER) achievable over the range of 1200-9600 bits/s is presented. A comparison with the performance of pulse code modulation (PCM) is included. The comparison indicates that the two systems are comparable for error-free digital lines but favors the DM system for lines with errors.     

Liquid xenon scintillation calorimetry and Xe optical properties

The optical properties of liquid xenon (LXe) in the vacuum ultra violet (VUV), determining the performance of a scintillation calorimeter, are discussed in detail. The available data, measured in a wider spectral region from visible to UV light, and in a large range of Xe densities, from gas to liquid, are examined. It is shown that this information can be used for deriving the LXe optical properties in the VUV. A comparison is made with the few direct measurements in LXe for VUV light resulting from the LXe excitation by ionizing particles. A useful relation is obtained which connects the Rayleigh scattering length to the refractive index in LXe.