A novel Kr-83m tracer method for characterizing xenon gas and cryogenic distillation systems

0439712 - ÚJF 2015 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Rosendahl, S. - Bokeloh, K. - Brown, E. - Cristescu, R. - Fieguth, A. - Huhmann, C. - Lebeda, Ondřej - Levy, C. - Murra, M. - Schneider, S. - Vénos, Drahoslav - Weinheimer, C.
A novel Kr-83m tracer method for characterizing xenon gas and cryogenic distillation systems.
Journal of Instrumentation. Roč. 9, OCT (2014), p10010. ISSN 1748-0221. E-ISSN 1748-0221
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GAP203/12/1896; GA MŠMT(XE) LM2011019
Institutional support: RVO:61389005
Keywords : photon detectors for UV * visible and IR photons (gas) * gas systems and purification * scintillators, scintillation and light emission processes (solid, gas and liquid scintillators) * very low-energy charged particle detectors
Subject RIV: JB - Sensors, Measurment, Regulation
Impact factor: 1.399, year: 2014

The radioactive isomer Kr-83m has many properties that make it very useful for various applications. Its low energy decay products, like conversion, shake-off and Auger electrons as well as X-and gamma-rays are used for calibration purposes in neutrino mass experiments and direct dark matter detection experiments. Thanks to the short half-life of 1.83 h and the decay to the ground state Kr-83, one does not risk contamination of any low-background experiment with long-lived radionuclides. In this paper, we present a new approach, using (83m)Kras a radioactive tracer in noble gases. A method of doping Kr-83m into xenon gas and its detection, using special custom-made detectors, based on a photomultiplier tube, is described. Two applications of this method are presented: firstly, it can be used to characterize the particle flow inside of gas routing systems and determine the circulation speed of gas particles inside of a gas purification system for xenon. Secondly, it is used for rapid estimating of the separation performance of a distillation system.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0242935