Photoluminescence of resin-based solder flux residue under ultraviolet excitation from 120 nm to 310 nm

Abstract

Nuisance photoluminescence is a potential source of background in particle detectors that use noble liquids as target material for galactic dark matter particles and neutrinos. Liquid argon and xenon scintillate in the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) wavelength range in response to particle interactions. Photoluminescent materials that absorb these photons can cause unexpected signals that may impede event reconstruction in these detectors. We illuminated residue from different types of commercial solder flux commonly used in liquid xenon detectors with ultraviolet and VUV light and measured their photoluminescence spectra and intensities. We find that all tested flux residues photoluminesce in the visible spectral region when exposed to VUV light.