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Jostlein, H.

Publications and source records attributed to Jostlein, H..

22 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2014

The Liquid Argon Purity Demonstrator

The Liquid Argon Purity Demonstrator was an R&D test stand designed to determine if electron drift lifetimes adequate for large neutrino detectors could be achieved without first evacuating the cryostat. We describe here the cryogenic system, its operations, and the apparatus used to determine the contaminant levels in the argon and to measure the electron drift lifetime. The liquid purity obtained by this system was facilitated by a gaseous argon purge. Additionally, gaseous impurities from the ullage were prevented from entering the liquid at the gas-liquid interface by condensing the gas and filtering the resulting liquid before returning to the cryostat. The measured electron drift lifetime in this test was greater than 6 ms, sustained over several periods of many weeks. Measurements of the temperature profile in the argon, to assess convective flow and boiling, were also made and are compared to simulation.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2014

Extreme argon purity in a large, non-evacuated cryostat

Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers (LArTPCs) show promise as scalable devices for the large detectors needed for long-baseline neutrino oscillation physics. Over the last several years at Fermilab a staged approach to developing the technology for large detectors has been developed. The TPC detectors require ultra-pure liquid argon with respect to electronegative contaminants such as oxygen and water. The tolerable electronegative contamination level may be as pure as 60 parts per trillion of oxygen. Three liquid argon cryostats operated at Fermilab have achieved the extreme purity required by TPCs. These three cryostats used evacuation to remove atmospheric contaminants as the first purification step prior to filling with liquid argon. Future physics experiments may require very large detectors with tens of kilotonnes of liquid argon mass. The capability to evacuate such large cryostats adds significant cost to the cryostat itself in addition to the cost of a large scale vacuum pumping system. This paper describes a 30 ton liquid argon cryostat at Fermilab which uses purging to remove atmospheric contaminants instead of evacuation as the first purification step. This cryostat has achieved electronegative contamination levels better than 60 parts per trillion of oxygen equivalent. The results of this liquid argon purity demonstration will strongly influence the design of future TPC cryostats.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗