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Title: Development of ultralow-background cryogenic calorimeters for the measurement of surface α  contamination

Journal Article · · Applied Radiation and Isotopes
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [3];  [5];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [6];  [3];  [1];  [4];  [4];  [7]
  1. Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), L'Aquila (Italy)
  2. Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Milano (Italy)
  3. Università di Milano-Bicocca (Italy); Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Milano (Italy)
  4. Gran Sasso Science Institute, L’Aquila (Italy); Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), L'Aquila (Italy)
  5. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Nuclear Science Division
  6. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Nuclear Science Division; University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
  7. Gran Sasso Science Institute, L’Aquila (Italy)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Next-generation experiments searching for rare events must satisfy increasingly stringent requirements on the bulk and surface radioactive contamination of their active and structural materials. The measurement of surface contamination is particularly challenging, as no existing technology is capable of separately measuring parts of the 232Th and 238U decay chains that are commonly found to be out of secular equilibrium. We will present the results obtained with a detector prototype consisting of 8 silicon wafers of 150mm diameter instrumented as bolometers and operated in a low-background dilution refrigerator at the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory of INFN, Italy. Furthermore, the prototype was characterized by a baseline energy resolution of few keV and a background <100nBq/cm2 in the full range of α energies, obtained with simple procedures for cleaning of all employed materials and no specific measures to prevent recontamination. Such performance, together with the modularity of the detector design, demonstrate the possibility to realize an alpha detector capable of separately measuring all alpha emitters of the 232Th and 238U chains, possibly reaching a sensitivity of few nBq/cm2.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; FG02-08ER41551
OSTI ID:
2282490
Journal Information:
Applied Radiation and Isotopes, Vol. 193; ISSN 0969-8043
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (13)

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Perspectives of lowering CUORE thresholds with Optimum Trigger journal December 2020
Production, characterization, and selection of the heating elements for the response stabilization of the CUORE bolometers
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journal February 2012
Low background neutron activation: a high sensitivity technique for long-lived radionuclides determination in rare events physics experiments journal November 2018
Background model of the CUPID-0 experiment journal July 2019
A high precision pulse generation and stabilization system for bolometric experiments journal February 2018
The CUPID-Mo experiment for neutrinoless double-beta decay: performance and prospects journal January 2020
Validation of techniques to mitigate copper surface contamination in CUORE journal May 2013
ICP-MS measurement of natural radioactivity at LNGS journal October 2017
The projected background for the CUORE experiment journal August 2017
A novel assay method for the trace determination of Th and U in copper and lead using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry
  • LaFerriere, B. D.; Maiti, T. C.; Arnquist, I. J.
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journal March 2015
Neutron activation analysis: A primary method of measurement journal March 2011
Screening of materials with high purity germanium detectors at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso journal October 2017

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