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 150 mm diameter instrumented as bolometers and operated in a low-background dilution refrigerator at the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory of INFN, Italy. The prototype was characterized by a baseline energy resolution of few keV and a background <100 nBq/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.

Benato, G., Biassoni, M., Brofferio, C., Celi, E., Dell'Oro, S., Drobizhev, A., et al. (2023). Development of ultralow-background cryogenic calorimeters for the measurement of surface α contamination. APPLIED RADIATION AND ISOTOPES, 193(March 2023) [10.1016/j.apradiso.2023.110681].

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

Biassoni M.;Brofferio C.;Dell'Oro S.;Girola M.;Nutini I.;Puiu A.;
2023

Abstract

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 150 mm diameter instrumented as bolometers and operated in a low-background dilution refrigerator at the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory of INFN, Italy. The prototype was characterized by a baseline energy resolution of few keV and a background <100 nBq/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.
Articolo in rivista - Articolo scientifico
Bolometric α detector; Low-radioactivity measurements; Material screening;
English
16-gen-2023
2023
193
March 2023
110681
none
Benato, G., Biassoni, M., Brofferio, C., Celi, E., Dell'Oro, S., Drobizhev, A., et al. (2023). Development of ultralow-background cryogenic calorimeters for the measurement of surface α contamination. APPLIED RADIATION AND ISOTOPES, 193(March 2023) [10.1016/j.apradiso.2023.110681].
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/414438
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