Related papers: A Rn-220 source for the calibration of low-backgro…
The selection of low-radioactive construction materials is of utmost importance for the success of low-energy rare event search experiments. Besides radioactive contaminants in the bulk, the emanation of radioactive radon atoms from…
NEXT-100 is a high-pressure xenon time projection chamber with electroluminescent amplification, designed to operate with up to approximately 70.5 kg at 13.5 bar. It is the most recent detector developed by the NEXT collaboration to search…
A low-energy electronic recoil calibration of XENON1T, a dual-phase xenon time projection chamber, with an internal $^{37}$Ar source was performed. This calibration source features a 35-day half-life and provides two mono-energetic lines at…
We present preliminary results from a VLBI survey at $\lambda=6 $cm of a sample of 35 sources with flux densities of 2 - 100 mJy. These sources were selected from the VLA FIRST survey at $\lambda = 20 $cm, in a 3 degree field around the…
Radon and its progeny constitute a major source of background in rare-event physics experiments, such as those searching for dark matter, neutrinos, and neutrinoless double beta decay, due to their origin as unavoidable decay products of…
The GERmanium Detector Array, GERDA, searches for neutrinoless double beta decay in Ge-76 using bare high-purity germanium detectors submerged in liquid argon. For the calibration of these detectors gamma emitting sources have to be lowered…
A custom-made 228Th source of several MBq activity was produced for the Borexino experiment for studying the external background of the detector. The aim was to reduce the unwanted neutron emission produced via (alpha,n) reactions in…
Measuring radon emanation from detector materials is a key method for controlling radon, a significant background in rare-event physics experiments. Methods for measuring radon emanation are well-established but have predominantly focused…
Neutron star binary mergers are strong sources of gravitational waves (GWs). Promising electromagnetic counterparts are short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) but the emission is highly collimated. We propose that the scattering of the long-lasting…
A reliable and consistently reproducible technique to fabricate $^{222}$Rn-loaded radioactive sources ($\sim$0.5-1 kBq just after fabrication) based on liquid scintillator (LS), with negligible amounts of LS quencher contaminants, was…
Rare event searches require extreme radiopurity in all detector components. This includes the active medium, which in the case of gaseous detectors, is the operating gas. The gases used typically include noble gas mixtures with molecular…
The XENONnT experiment has achieved an exceptionally low $^\text{222}$Rn activity concentration within its inner 5.9$\,$tonne liquid xenon detector of (0.90$\,\pm\,$0.01$\,$stat.$\,\pm\,$0.07 sys.)$\,\mu$Bq/kg, equivalent to about 430…
Next-generation xenon detectors with multi-ton-year exposure are powerful direct probes of dark matter candidates, in particular the favorite weakly-interacting massive particles. Coupled with the features of low thresholds and backgrounds,…
In this paper, we describe the XENON100 data analyses used to assess the target-intrinsic background sources radon ($^{222}$Rn), thoron ($^{220}$Rn) and krypton ($^{85}$Kr). We detail the event selections of high-energy alpha particles and…
In-situ purification of the gas used as stopping medium in a noble gas ion catcher by operating the device at low temperatures of 60 to 150 K was investigated. Alpha-decay recoil ions from a 223Ra source served as energetic probes. The…
A continuous-wave laser source at 148.4 nm based on second-harmonic generation in randomly quasi-phase matched strontium tetraborate, SrB4O7, is demonstrated. It provides (1.3-0.6+0.7) nW of VUV power in a single pass for an incident UV…
Graphene as a single-atomic-layer material is fully exposed to environment and has therefore a great potential for creating of sensitive gas sensors. However, in order to realize this potential for different polluting gases, graphene has to…
The NEXT experiment aims to observe the neutrinoless double beta decay of $^{136}$Xe in a high pressure gas TPC using electroluminescence (EL) to amplify the signal from ionization. Understanding the response of the detector is imperative…
Radon is one of the most important sources of background in rare event search experiments, such as those searching for Dark Matter and neutrinos, due to its unavoidable production from natural uranium. In low-background experiments, radon…
Radio-loud active galactic nuclei (AGNs), hosting powerful relativistic jet outflows, provide an excellent laboratory for studying jet physics. Very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) enables high-resolution imaging on milli-arcsecond…