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Abstract: In this paper we present a cryogenic performance study of specific optical and electrical components for the Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC), a potential far site detector technology of the long baseline neutrino experiment (LBNE). We have confirmed that an LVDS driver can drive a 20-meter CAT5E twisted pair up to 1 gigabit per second at liquid nitrogen temperature (77 K). We have verified that a 16:1 serializer Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), three types of laser diodes, optical fibers and connectors, and field-programming gate arrays (FPGAs) continue to function at 77 K. A variety of commercial resistors and capacitors have been tested at 77 K. All tests we have conducted show that the cold front-end electronics is promising. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: ICARUS (Imaging Cosmic And Rare Underground Signals) is the the largest Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LAr-TPC) in the world (containing _600 tons of LAr) addressed to the study of rare events and, among these, neutrino interactions. Installed in the Gran Sasso National Laboratory (INFN-LNGS, Italy), ICARUS started working gradually since May, 27th 2010, collecting data both from the cosmic rays able to reach the depths of the laboratory and from neutrino interactions from the CNGS beam. The detector, providing a completely uniform imaging and calorimetry with a high accuracy on massive volumes, allows to reconstruct in real time neutrino and cosmic interactions, measuring the full kinematics of the identified particles. The ICARUS technology can be considered as a milestone towards the realization of next generation of massive detectors (tens of ktons) for neutrino and rare event phy sics.In this paper a short description of the ICARUS T600 experiment, detector main features and performances and its first underground results are presented. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A high Light Yield Liquid Argon chamber has been radiated with an Am/Be source for signal-to-background separation level characterization in a Dark Matter Liquid Argon based detector. Apart from the standard nuclear recoil and electron events, from neutron elastic interactions and gamma conversions respectively, an intermediate population has been observed which is attributed to inelastic neutron scatters on Argon nuclei producing Argon recoil and simultaneous gammas from nuclear de-excitation. Taking account of these events results in a better determination of the recoil-like to electron-like separation based on the shape of the scintillation pulse. The results of this recent study as well as from a previous study with a chamber with a lower Light Yield are presented. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]