E. Aprile et al., A liquid xenon time projection chamber for gamma-ray imaging in astrophysics: present status and future directions, NUCL INST A, 461(1-3), 2001, pp. 256-261
A liquid xenon time projection chamber (LXeTPC) has been developed to image
cosmic gamma -rays in the energy band 0.2-20 MeV. Its performance as Gamma
Ray Imaging Telescope (LXeGRIT instrument) has been tested during a high a
ltitude balloon flight (Spring '99, New Mexico). The detector, with 400 cm(
2) area and 7 cm drift gap, is filled with 7 l high purity LXe. Both ioniza
tion and scintillation light signals are detected to measure the energy dep
osits and the three spatial coordinates of individual gamma -ray interactio
ns within the sensitive volume. During the. pre-flight calibration experime
nts the LXeGRIT instrument was extensively tested with gamma -ray sources i
n the laboratory: a 10% FWHM energy resolution at 1 MeV was determined, sca
ling with 1/rootE. The detector shows a linear response in the energy range
511 keV-4.4 MeV. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.