A Two-Phase Emission Liquid Xe Detector for Study of Low-Ionization Events at the Research Reactor IRT MEPhI

A two-phase emission detector containing 5 kg of liquid Xe is installed at the horizontal experimental channel of the research nuclear reactor IRT MEPhI to measure the liquid Xe response to nuclei recoils with kinetic energies below 1 keV. Preliminary tests have demonstrated that ≥ 15 μs electron lifetime in liquid Xe and ~ 10 photoelectrons single ionization electron signal are achieved. These parameters are sufficient to detect and identify events at the single electron level.