2023/04/25 by I. C. Bandac, Bandac, I. C., A. S. Barabash +76 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Radiation Detection and Scintillator Technologies #nucl-ex #physics.ins-det
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2304.13100
openalex publication_date 2023/04/25 · openalex created_date 2023/04/28 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
We report on the development of scintillating bolometers based on lithium molybdate crystals containing molybdenum depleted in the double-β active isotope 100Mo (Li2^100\textrmdeplMoO4). We used two Li2^100\textrmdeplMoO4 cubic samples, 45 mm side and 0.28 kg each, produced following purification and crystallization protocols developed for double-β search experiments with 100Mo-enriched Li2MoO4 crystals. Bolometric Ge detectors were utilized to register scintillation photons emitted by the Li2^100\textrmdeplMoO4 crystal scintillators. The measurements were performed in the CROSS cryogenic set-up at the Canfranc underground laboratory (Spain). We observed that the Li2^100\textrmdeplMoO4 scintillating bolometers are characterized by excellent spectrometric performance (∼3--6 keV FWHM at 0.24--2.6 MeV γ's), moderate scintillation signal (∼0.3--0.6 keV/MeV depending on light collection conditions) and high radiopurity (228Th and 226Ra activities are below a few μBq/kg), comparable to the best reported results of low-temperature detectors based on Li2MoO4 with natural or 100Mo-enriched molybdenum content. Prospects of Li2^100\textrmdeplMoO4 bolometers for use in rare-event search experiments are briefly discussed.