Experimental ion mobility measurements in Ar-C2H6 mixtures

In this paper we present the experimental results for the mobility of ions in argon-ethane gaseous mixtures (Ar-C2H6) for pressures ranging from 6 to 10 Torr and for reduced electric fields in the 10 Td to 25 Td range, at room temperature. For Ar concentrations below 80% two peaks were observed in the time of arrival spectra which were attributed to ion species with 3-carbons (C3H7+, C3H8+ and C3H9+) and with 4-carbons (which includes C4H7+, C4H9+, C4H10+ and C4H12+ ions). For Ar concentrations above 80% a third peak appears, which may belong to C5H11+. The time of arrival spectra for Ar concentrations of 80%, 85%, 90% and 95% are displayed in the present paper as well as the reduced mobilities determined from the peaks observed for a typical reduced electric field used in gaseous detectors (E/N = 15 Td).