A measurement of photon production in electron avalanches in CF4

This paper presents a measurement of the ratio of photon to electron production and the scintillation spectrum in a popular gas for time projection chambers, carbon tetrafluoride (CF4), over the range of 200–800 nm; the ratio is measured to be 0.34±0.040.34±0.04. This result is of particular importance for a new generation of dark matter time projection chambers with directional sensitivity which use CF4 as a fill gas.