Paper detail

Discovery of Multiple, Ionization-Created Anions in Gas Mixtures Containing CS2 and O2

The use of negative ions in TPCs has several advantages for high-resolution rare- event detection experiments. The DRIFT experiment, for example, has taken full advantage of this technique over the past decade in a directional search for dark matter. This paper focuses on the surprising discovery of multiple species of ionization-created CS2 anions, called minority carriers, in gas mixtures containing electronegative CS2 and O2, identified by their slightly different drift velocities. Measurements of minority carriers in gas mixtures of CS2, CF4 and O2 are reported in an effort to understand the nature of these charge carriers. Regardless of the micro-physics however, this discovery offers significant practical advantages for experiments such as DRIFT, where the difference in arrival time may be used to fiducialize the original ionization event without an external start pulse.