AMANDA - STATUS REPORT FROM THE 1993-94 CAMPAIGN AND OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE SOUTH POLE ICE

摘要

We report the first results of the AMANDA detector. During the antarctic summer 1993-94 four strings were deployed between 0.8 an 1 km depth, each equipped with 20 photomultiplier tubes (PMTs). A laser source was used to investigate the optical properties of the ice in situ. We find that the ice is intrinsically extremely transparent. The measured absorption length is 59+/-3 m, i.e. comparable with the quality of the ultra-pure water used in the IMB and Kamiokande proton-decay and neutrino experiments [1,2] and more than two times longer than the best value reported for laboratory ice [3]. Due to a residual density of air bubbles at these depths, the motion of photons in the medium is randomized. For spherical, smooth bubbles we find that, at 1 km depth, the average distance between collisions is about 25 cm. The measured inverse scattering length on bubbles decreases Linearly with increasing depth in the volume of ice investigated. [References: 13]