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Title: Demonstration of Single-Barium-Ion Sensitivity for Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay Using Single-Molecule Fluorescence Imaging

Abstract

Here, a new method to tag the barium daughter in the double beta decay of $$^{136}$$Xe is reported. Using the technique of single molecule fluorescent imaging (SMFI), individual barium dication (Ba$$^{++}$$) resolution at a transparent scanning surface has been demonstrated. A single-step photo-bleach confirms the single ion interpretation. Individual ions are localized with super-resolution ($$\sim$$2~nm), and detected with a statistical significance of 12.9~$$\sigma$$ over backgrounds. This lays the foundation for a new and potentially background-free neutrinoless double beta decay technology, based on SMFI coupled to high pressure xenon gas time projection chambers.

Authors:
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Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Univ. of Texas, Arlington, TX (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Contributing Org.:
NEXT Collaboration
OSTI Identifier:
1412510
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1429570; OSTI ID: 1460742; OSTI ID: 1908628
Report Number(s):
FERMILAB-PUB-17-521-ND; arXiv:1711.04782
Journal ID: ISSN 0031-9007; PRLTAO; 1636186
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-07CH11359; FG02-13ER42020; SC0017721; AC02-06CH11357
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physical Review Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 120; Journal Issue: 13; Journal ID: ISSN 0031-9007
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS; 46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY; 72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS

Citation Formats

McDonald, A. D., Jones, B. J. P., Nygren, D. R., Adams, C., Álvarez, V., Azevedo, C. D. R., Benlloch-Rodríguez, J. M., Borges, F. I. G. M., Botas, A., Cárcel, S., Carrión, J. V., Cebrián, S., Conde, C. A. N., Díaz, J., Diesburg, M., Escada, J., Esteve, R., Felkai, R., Fernandes, L. M. P., Ferrario, P., Ferreira, A. L., Freitas, E. D. C., Goldschmidt, A., Gómez-Cadenas, J. J., González-Díaz, D., Gutiérrez, R. M., Guenette, R., Hafidi, K., Hauptman, J., Henriques, C. A. O., Hernandez, A. I., Hernando Morata, J. A., Herrero, V., Johnston, S., Labarga, L., Laing, A., Lebrun, P., Liubarsky, I., López-March, N., Losada, M., Martín-Albo, J., Martínez-Lema, G., Martínez, A., Monrabal, F., Monteiro, C. M. B., Mora, F. J., Moutinho, L. M., Muñoz Vidal, J., Musti, M., Nebot-Guinot, M., Novella, P., Palmeiro, B., Para, A., Pérez, J., Querol, M., Repond, J., Renner, J., Riordan, S., Ripoll, L., Rodríguez, J., Rogers, L., Santos, F. P., dos Santos, J. M. F., Simón, A., Sofka, C., Sorel, M., Stiegler, T., Toledo, J. F., Torrent, J., Tsamalaidze, Z., Veloso, J. F. C. A., Webb, R., White, J. T., and Yahlali, N. Demonstration of Single-Barium-Ion Sensitivity for Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay Using Single-Molecule Fluorescence Imaging. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.132504.
McDonald, A. D., Jones, B. J. P., Nygren, D. R., Adams, C., Álvarez, V., Azevedo, C. D. R., Benlloch-Rodríguez, J. M., Borges, F. I. G. M., Botas, A., Cárcel, S., Carrión, J. V., Cebrián, S., Conde, C. A. N., Díaz, J., Diesburg, M., Escada, J., Esteve, R., Felkai, R., Fernandes, L. M. P., Ferrario, P., Ferreira, A. L., Freitas, E. D. C., Goldschmidt, A., Gómez-Cadenas, J. J., González-Díaz, D., Gutiérrez, R. M., Guenette, R., Hafidi, K., Hauptman, J., Henriques, C. A. O., Hernandez, A. I., Hernando Morata, J. A., Herrero, V., Johnston, S., Labarga, L., Laing, A., Lebrun, P., Liubarsky, I., López-March, N., Losada, M., Martín-Albo, J., Martínez-Lema, G., Martínez, A., Monrabal, F., Monteiro, C. M. B., Mora, F. J., Moutinho, L. M., Muñoz Vidal, J., Musti, M., Nebot-Guinot, M., Novella, P., Palmeiro, B., Para, A., Pérez, J., Querol, M., Repond, J., Renner, J., Riordan, S., Ripoll, L., Rodríguez, J., Rogers, L., Santos, F. P., dos Santos, J. M. F., Simón, A., Sofka, C., Sorel, M., Stiegler, T., Toledo, J. F., Torrent, J., Tsamalaidze, Z., Veloso, J. F. C. A., Webb, R., White, J. T., & Yahlali, N. Demonstration of Single-Barium-Ion Sensitivity for Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay Using Single-Molecule Fluorescence Imaging. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.132504
McDonald, A. D., Jones, B. J. P., Nygren, D. R., Adams, C., Álvarez, V., Azevedo, C. D. R., Benlloch-Rodríguez, J. M., Borges, F. I. G. M., Botas, A., Cárcel, S., Carrión, J. V., Cebrián, S., Conde, C. A. N., Díaz, J., Diesburg, M., Escada, J., Esteve, R., Felkai, R., Fernandes, L. M. P., Ferrario, P., Ferreira, A. L., Freitas, E. D. C., Goldschmidt, A., Gómez-Cadenas, J. J., González-Díaz, D., Gutiérrez, R. M., Guenette, R., Hafidi, K., Hauptman, J., Henriques, C. A. O., Hernandez, A. I., Hernando Morata, J. A., Herrero, V., Johnston, S., Labarga, L., Laing, A., Lebrun, P., Liubarsky, I., López-March, N., Losada, M., Martín-Albo, J., Martínez-Lema, G., Martínez, A., Monrabal, F., Monteiro, C. M. B., Mora, F. J., Moutinho, L. M., Muñoz Vidal, J., Musti, M., Nebot-Guinot, M., Novella, P., Palmeiro, B., Para, A., Pérez, J., Querol, M., Repond, J., Renner, J., Riordan, S., Ripoll, L., Rodríguez, J., Rogers, L., Santos, F. P., dos Santos, J. M. F., Simón, A., Sofka, C., Sorel, M., Stiegler, T., Toledo, J. F., Torrent, J., Tsamalaidze, Z., Veloso, J. F. C. A., Webb, R., White, J. T., and Yahlali, N. Mon . "Demonstration of Single-Barium-Ion Sensitivity for Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay Using Single-Molecule Fluorescence Imaging". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.132504. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1412510.
@article{osti_1412510,
title = {Demonstration of Single-Barium-Ion Sensitivity for Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay Using Single-Molecule Fluorescence Imaging},
author = {McDonald, A. D. and Jones, B. J. P. and Nygren, D. R. and Adams, C. and Álvarez, V. and Azevedo, C. D. R. and Benlloch-Rodríguez, J. M. and Borges, F. I. G. M. and Botas, A. and Cárcel, S. and Carrión, J. V. and Cebrián, S. and Conde, C. A. N. and Díaz, J. and Diesburg, M. and Escada, J. and Esteve, R. and Felkai, R. and Fernandes, L. M. P. and Ferrario, P. and Ferreira, A. L. and Freitas, E. D. C. and Goldschmidt, A. and Gómez-Cadenas, J. J. and González-Díaz, D. and Gutiérrez, R. M. and Guenette, R. and Hafidi, K. and Hauptman, J. and Henriques, C. A. O. and Hernandez, A. I. and Hernando Morata, J. A. and Herrero, V. and Johnston, S. and Labarga, L. and Laing, A. and Lebrun, P. and Liubarsky, I. and López-March, N. and Losada, M. and Martín-Albo, J. and Martínez-Lema, G. and Martínez, A. and Monrabal, F. and Monteiro, C. M. B. and Mora, F. J. and Moutinho, L. M. and Muñoz Vidal, J. and Musti, M. and Nebot-Guinot, M. and Novella, P. and Palmeiro, B. and Para, A. and Pérez, J. and Querol, M. and Repond, J. and Renner, J. and Riordan, S. and Ripoll, L. and Rodríguez, J. and Rogers, L. and Santos, F. P. and dos Santos, J. M. F. and Simón, A. and Sofka, C. and Sorel, M. and Stiegler, T. and Toledo, J. F. and Torrent, J. and Tsamalaidze, Z. and Veloso, J. F. C. A. and Webb, R. and White, J. T. and Yahlali, N.},
abstractNote = {Here, a new method to tag the barium daughter in the double beta decay of $^{136}$Xe is reported. Using the technique of single molecule fluorescent imaging (SMFI), individual barium dication (Ba$^{++}$) resolution at a transparent scanning surface has been demonstrated. A single-step photo-bleach confirms the single ion interpretation. Individual ions are localized with super-resolution ($\sim$2~nm), and detected with a statistical significance of 12.9~$\sigma$ over backgrounds. This lays the foundation for a new and potentially background-free neutrinoless double beta decay technology, based on SMFI coupled to high pressure xenon gas time projection chambers.},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.132504},
journal = {Physical Review Letters},
number = 13,
volume = 120,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Mar 26 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Mon Mar 26 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}

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Cited by: 33 works
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Figures / Tables:

FIG. 1. FIG. 1. : A single Ba++ candidate. A fixed region of the CCD camera is shown with 0.5 s exposure before (top) and after (bottom) photo-bleaching transition.

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Figures/Tables have been extracted from DOE-funded journal article accepted manuscripts.