Study of the Charge States of Atoms of Cl-39,Cl-40 Produced As the Result of (N,P) and (N,D) Reactions in Liquid Argon

It is shown that atoms of /sup 39,40/Cl produced in liquid argon as the result of (n,p) and (n,d) reactions at a neutron energy 14.5 MeV live for a long time in the form of Cl/sup + -/ ions and are collected by an electric field onto chamber electrodes where their decays can be distinguished as the result of the spatial resolution of the chamber. On the basis of this result it is concluded that it is possible to suppress the background activity induced by cosmic-ray muons in experiments using a liquid-argon ionization chamber to measure the scattering of low-energy neutrinos and antineutrinos by electrons.