Charcoal Chromatography to Purify Xenon for the LZ Dark Matter Experiment
Abstract
The LZ collaboration is a project aimed to find dark matter. The detector is a dual-phase time projection chamber with 10 tonnes of liquefied xenon (Xe) that allows us to detect particle interactions with the Xe target. To decrease the radioactive background, krypton (Kr-85) must be removed from the Xe prior to the experiment. This has to be done because Kr is a beta emitter and its isotope causes a background in the detector. To reduce the concentration of Kr, LZ uses a purification process of charcoal chromatography. This process separates the two noble gases using the difference in the time constant in their elution curves. The charcoal column is filled with 500 kg of activated charcoal which is baked and washed in situ. The baking process is controlled using an interface program called Ignition. Both the temperature and the heaters are monitoring and controlled using Ignition. Once this procedure is complete, the charcoal is ready to start the Kr removal.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #233
- Pub Date:
- January 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AAS...23335007P