Related papers: Radioactive contamination of scintillators
Solid state detectors and cryogenic detectors are widely employed in rare event searches, such as direct Dark Matter detection or Coherent Neutrino Nucleus Scattering experiments. The excellent sensitivity and, consequently, their low…
The background induced by radioactive impurities of $^{208}\rm Tl$ and $^{214}\rm Bi$ in the source of the double beta experiment NEMO-3 has been investigated. New methods of data analysis which decrease the background from the above…
Bombardment of materials by high-energy particles (e.g., electrons, nuclei, X- and $\gamma$-ray photons) often leads to light emission, known generally as scintillation. Scintillation is ubiquitous and enjoys widespread applications in many…
Random coincidences of nuclear events can be one of the main background sources in low-temperature calorimetric experiments looking for neutrinoless double-beta decay, especially in those searches based on scintillating bolometers embedding…
Low background gamma spectrometry employing HPGe detectors is a sensitive technique for measuring low-level radioactivity in environmental applications, material screening, and for rare decay searches. This work presents spectroscopic…
The CSC (cryogenic scintillating calorimeter) technology devoted to rare event searches is reaching the sensitivity level required for the hunt of dark matter-electron scatterings. Dark matter-electron interactions in scintillating targets…
The first detailed study on the performance of a ZnO-based cryogenic scintillating bolometer as a detector to search for rare processes in zinc isotopes was performed. A 7.2 g ZnO low-temperature detector, containing more than 80\% of zinc…
The selection of low-radioactive construction materials is of the utmost importance for rare-event searches and thus critical to the XENONnT experiment. Results of an extensive radioassay program are reported, in which material samples have…
The removal of Radon induced Lead from liquid scintillator was extensively studied in preparation for KamLAND's low background phase. This work presents the results from laboratory experiments performed at the University of Alabama and…
Various phenomenological models presented over the years have hinted at the possible presence of strangelets, which are nuggets of Strange Quark Matter (SQM), in cosmic rays. One way to search for such rare events is through the deployment…
We developed a CANDLES-III system to study the neutrino-less double beta (0$\nu\beta\beta$) decay of $^{48}$Ca. The proposed system employs 96 CaF$_{2}$ scintillation crystals (305 kg) with natural Ca ($^{\rm nat.}$Ca) isotope which…
The growing interest in clarifying the controversial situation in the Dark Matter sector has driven the experimental efforts towards new ways to investigate the long-standing DAMA/LIBRA result. Among them, low-temperature calorimeters based…
Nuclear reactors have served as the antineutrino source for many fundamental physics experiments. The techniques developed by these experiments make it possible to use these very weakly interacting particles for a practical purpose. The…
Compelling experimental evidences of neutrino oscillations and their implication that neutrinos are massive particles have given neutrinoless double beta decay a central role in astroparticle physics. In fact, the discovery of this elusive…
Nuclear physics experiments are always in need of more and more advanced detection systems. During the last years relevant technological developments have come out with many improvements in terms of performance and compactness of detector…
Neutrons produced by cosmic muon interactions are important contributors to backgrounds in underground detectors when searching for rare events. Typically such neutrons can dominate the background, as they are particularly difficult to…
Temperature sensors fabricated from ultra-low radioactivity materials have been developed for low-background experiments searching for neutrinoless double-beta decay and the interactions of WIMP dark matter. The sensors consist of…
Dark matter particles with sufficiently large interactions with ordinary matter can scatter in the Earth before reaching and scattering in a detector. This induces a modulation in the signal rate with a period of one sidereal day. We…
We construct a high sensitivity radon pilot detector using liquid scintillator dissolved radon for the CDEX rare-event searches program. The CDEX-10 project employs a germanium detector array immersed in a massive liquid nitrogen tank.…
The next generation of low-background physics experiments will require the use of materials with unprecedented radio-purity. A gamma-counting facility at the Kimballton Underground Research Facility (KURF) has been commissioned to perform…