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Description
Liquid argon detectors are used in a variety of fundamental physical experiments, such as dark matter searches and neutrino studies. The use of argon as a target medium is largely due to its high light yield. However, the maximum emission intensity occurs at a wavelength of 128 nm, which is difficult to detect with high efficiency. The standard solution is to use wavelength shifter, which re-emits 128 nm into the visible range, but it has its own drawbacks. In this paper, an alternative readout concept is considered, namely light readout in the visible and infrared range without wavelength shifter. The results of measurements of the light yield of primary scintillations (S1) in liquid phase and electroluminescence (S2) in gaseous phase in pure argon and their mixtures with methane are presented. Possible applications of this new readout concept in dark matter detectors and neutron veto detectors are also discussed.
