Chromatographic separation of radioactive noble gases from xenon

• DOI: 10.1016/j.astropartphys.2017.10.014
• Publication Date: 2017-10-31T18:18:02Z
• Authors: D.S. Akerib; H.M. Araújo; X. Bai; A.J. Bailey; J. Balajthy; P. Beltrame; E.P. Bernard; A. Bernstein; T.P. Biesiadzinski; E.M. Boulton; R. Bramante; S.B. Cahn; M.C. Carmona-Benitez; C. Chan; A.A. Chiller; C. Chiller; T. Coffey; A. Currie; J.E. Cutter; T.J.R. Davison; A. Dobi; J.E.Y. Dobson; E. Druszkiewicz; B.N. Edwards; C.H. Faham; S. Fiorucci; R.J. Gaitskell; V.M. Gehman; C. Ghag; K.R. Gibson; M.G.D. Gilchriese; C.R. Hall; M. Hanhardt; S.J. Haselschwardt; S.A. Hertel; D.P. Hogan; M. Horn; D.Q. Huang; C.M. Ignarra; M. Ihm; R.G. Jacobsen; W. Ji; K. Kamdin; K. Kazkaz; D. Khaitan; R. Knoche; N.A. Larsen; C. Lee; B.G. Lenardo; K.T. Lesko; A. Lindote; M.I. Lopes; A. Manalaysay; R.L. Mannino; M.F. Marzioni; D.N. McKinsey; D.-M. Mei; J. Mock; M. Moongweluwan; J.A. Morad; A.St.J. Murphy; C. Nehrkorn; H.N. Nelson; F. Neves; K. O’Sullivan; K.C. Oliver-Mallory; K.J. Palladino; E.K. Pease; K. Pech; P. Phelps; L. Reichhart; C. Rhyne; S. Shaw; T.A. Shutt; C. Silva; V.N. Solovov; P. Sorensen; S. Stephenson; T.J. Sumner; M. Szydagis; D.J. Taylor; W. Taylor; B.P. Tennyson; P.A. Terman; D.R. Tiedt; W.H. To; M. Tripathi; L. Tvrznikova; S. Uvarov; J.R. Verbus; R.C. Webb; J.T. White; T.J. Whitis; M.S. Witherell; F.L.H. Wolfs; K. Yazdani; S.K. Young; C. Zhang
• Keywords: Xenon; Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors; 550; FOS: Physical sciences; 530; Atomic; 01 natural sciences; 7. Clean energy; Particle and Plasma Physics; 0202 Atomic, Molecular, Nuclear, Particle And Plasma Physics; 0103 physical sciences; Dark Matter; Nuclear; physics.ins-det; Chromatography; Krypton; Molecular; Instrumentation and Detectors (physics.ins-det); Nuclear and Plasma Physics; Nuclear & Particles Physics; Synchrotrons and Accelerators; 0201 Astronomical And Space Sciences; Particle and high energy physics; Gas Separation; 0202 Atomic; Particle And Plasma Physics; Physical Sciences; Astronomical sciences; Adsorption; Astronomical and Space Sciences

Accepted in Astropart. Phys<br/>The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) experiment operates at the Sanford Underground Research Facility to detect nuclear recoils from the hypothetical Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) on a liquid xenon target. Liquid xenon typically contains trace amounts of the noble radioactive isotopes $^{85}$Kr and $^{39}$Ar that are not removed by the in situ gas purification system. The decays of these isotopes at concentrations typical of research-grade xenon would be a dominant background for a WIMP search exmperiment. To remove these impurities from the liquid xenon, a chromatographic separation system based on adsorption on activated charcoal was built. 400 kg of xenon was processed, reducing the average concentration of krypton from 130 ppb to 3.5 ppt as measured by a cold-trap assisted mass spectroscopy system. A 50 kg batch spiked to 0.001 g/g of krypton was processed twice and reduced to an upper limit of 0.2 ppt.<br/>