1207.3948 (Makoto Tabata et al.)

Optical and radiographical characterization of silica aerogel for
Cherenkov radiator    [PDF]

Makoto Tabata, Ichiro Adachi, Yoshikiyo Hatakeyama, Hideyuki Kawai, Takeshi Morita, Keiko Nishikawa

We present optical and X-ray radiographical characterization of silica aerogels with refractive index from 1.05 to 1.07 for a Cherenkov radiator. A novel pin-drying method enables us to produce highly transparent hydrophobic aerogels with high refractive index by shrinking wet-gels. In order to investigate the uniformity in the density (i.e., refractive index) of an individual aerogel monolith, we use the laser Fraunhofer method, an X-ray absorption technique, and Cherenkov imaging by a ring imaging Cherenkov detector in a beam test. We observed an increase in density at the edge of the aerogel tiles, produced by pin-drying.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1207.3948