Negative ion drift and diffusion in a TPC near 1 bar

Drift velocity and longitudinal diffusion measurements are reported for a Negative Ion TPC (NITPC) operating with Helium + CS 2 gas mixtures at total pressures from 160 to 700 torr. Longitudinal diffusion at the thermal-limit was observed for drift fields up to at least 700 V/cm in all gas mixtures tested. The results are of particular interest in connection with mechanical simplification of the DRIFT direction-sensitive Dark Matter search, and for high energy physics experiments in which a low- Z , low density, gaseous tracking detector with no appreciable Lorentz drift is needed for operation in very high magnetic fields.