The Secondary Scintillation of Rare Gases under the Influence of Magnetic Fields

The influence of magnetic fields on the secondary scintillation of xenon and argon is studied. A small gas cell is used with excitation by alpha-particles and magnetic fields perpendicular to the direction of the electric fields. For reduced electric fields normally used in gas proportional scintillation counters the intensity of the secondary scintillation remains constant, within an accuracy of about ± 1 % for xenon and ± 2% for argon, when the magnetic field intensity varied from 0 to 0.4 Tesla. A discussion and interpretation of the experimental data obtained is presented. It is concluded that gas proportional scintillation counters can be used in high magnetic field environments.