Purification of lanthanides for double beta decay experiments

Journal Article · Thu Aug 08 00:00:00 EDT 2013 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4818091· OSTI ID:22224173

Polischuk, O. G. ^[1]; Barabash, A. S. ^[2]; Belli, P. ^[3]; Bernabei, R. ^[4]; Boiko, R. S.; Danevich, F. A.; Mokina, V. M.; Poda, D. V.; Tretyak, V. I. ^[5]; Cappella, F.; Incicchitti, A. ^[6]; Cerulli, R.; Laubenstein, M.; Nisi, S. ^[7]

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1. Institute for Nuclear Research, MSP 03680 Kyiv, Ukraine and INFN, Section of Rome, La Sapienza, I-00185 Rome (Italy)
2. Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics, 117259 Moscow (Russian Federation)
3. INFN, Section of Rome Tor Vergata, I-00133 Rome (Italy)
4. INFN, Section of Rome Tor Vergata, I-00133 Rome, Italy and Department of Physics, University of Rome Tor Vergata, I-00133 Rome (Italy)
5. Institute for Nuclear Research, MSP 03680 Kyiv (Ukraine)
6. INFN, Section of Rome La Sapienza, I-00185 Rome, Italy and Department of Physics, University of Rome La Sapienza, I-00185 Rome (Italy)
7. INFN, Gran Sasso National Laboratories, I-67100 Assergi (Aq) (Italy)

There are several potentially double beta active isotopes among the lanthanide elements. However, even high purity grade lanthanide compounds contain {sup 238}U, {sup 226}Ra and {sup 232,228}Th typically on the level of ∼ (0.1 - 1) Bq/kg. The liquid-liquid extraction technique was used to remove traces of U, Ra and Th from CeO{sub 2}, Nd{sub 2}O{sub 3} and Gd{sub 2}O{sub 3}. The radioactive contamination of the samples before and after the purification was tested by using ultra-low-background HPGe γ spectrometry at the underground Gran Sasso National Laboratories of the INFN (Italy). After the purification the radioactive contamination of gadolinium oxide by Ra and Th was decreased at least one order of magnitude. The efficiency of the approach to purify cerium oxide from Ra was on same level, while the radioactive contamination of neodymium sample before and after the purification is below the sensitivity of analytical methods. The purification method is much less efficient for chemically very similar radioactive elements like lanthanum, lutetium and actinium. R and D of the methods to remove the pollutions with improved efficiency is in progress.

• OSTI ID: 22224173
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1549, Issue 1; Conference: LRT 2013: 4. international workshop on low radioactivity techniques, Assergi (Italy), 10-12 Apr 2013; Other Information: (c) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
CERIUM OXIDES
CONTAMINATION
DOUBLE BETA DECAY
EFFICIENCY
GADOLINIUM OXIDES
GAMMA DETECTION
GAMMA SPECTROSCOPY
HIGH-PURITY GE DETECTORS
MASS NUMBER
NEODYMIUM OXIDES
PURIFICATION
RADIUM 226
SENSITIVITY
SOLVENT EXTRACTION
THORIUM 228
UNDERGROUND
URANIUM 238