On the correlation between electron mobility, free-ion yield, and electron thermalization distance in nonpolar dielectric liquids

Abstract

The correlation between the thermal electron mobility, μ e , the radiation-induced free-ion yield G fi at zero applied electric field, and the most probable thermalization distance b of secondary electrons, is examined for 52 different pure non-polar dielectric liquids for which data have been reported in the literature. It is shown that, in liquids for which μ e > 10 −1 cm 2 V −1 s −1 , the variation of G fi with μ e is well represented by a relation of the type [Formula: see text] where n ≈ 0.31. The connection between G fi and μ e can be described through the product ε s b, where ε s is the static dielectric constant of the intervening liquid. In particular, 1/ε s b is shown to correlate with both μ e and G fi . Analysis of these correlations allows us to estimate an upper limit of μ e that can be attained in a room-temperature dielectric liquid, information of utmost importance from the point of view of application to liquid ionization detectors.