Evidence of electric breakdown induced by bubbles in liquid argon

We report on the results of a high voltage test in liquid argon in order to measure its dielectric rigidity. Under stable conditions and below the boiling point, liquid argon was found to sustain a uniform electric field of 100 kV/cm, applied in a region of 20 cm${}^2$ area across 1 cm thick gap. When the liquid is boiling, breakdowns may occur at electric fields as low as 40 kV/cm. This test is one of the R&D efforts towards the Giant Liquid Argon Charge Imaging ExpeRiment (GLACIER) as proposed Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LAr TPC) for the LBNO observatory for neutrino physics, astrophysics and nucleon decay searches.