Development of large-volume <sup>130</sup>TeO<sub>2</sub> bolometers for the CROSS 2β decay search experiment
Abstract We report on the development of thermal detectors based on large-size tellurium dioxide crystals (45 × 45 × 45 mm), containing tellurium enriched in 130 Te to about 91%, for the CROSS double-beta decay experiment. A powder used for the crystals growth was additionally purified by the directional solidification method, resulting in the reduction of the concentration of impurities by a factor 10, to a few ppm of the total concentration of residual elements (the main impurity is Fe). The purest part of the ingot (the first ∼ 200 mm, about 80% of the total length of the cylindrical part of the ingot) was determined by scanning segregation profiles of impurities and used for the 130 TeO 2 powder production with no evidence of re-contamination. The crystal growth was verified with precursors produced from a powder with natural Te isotopic composition, and two small-size (20 × 20 × 10 mm) samples were tested at a sea-level laboratory showing high bolometric and spectrometric performance together with acceptable 210 Po content (below 10 mBq/kg). This growth method was then applied for the production of six large cubic 130 TeO 2 crystals and 4 of them were taken randomly to be characterized at the Canfranc underground laboratory, in the CROSS-dedicated low-background cryogenic facility. Two 130 TeO 2 samples were coated with a thin, 𝒪(100 nm), metal film in form of Al layer (on 4 sides) or AlPd grid (on a single side) to investigate the possibility to tag surface events by pulse-shape discrimination. Similarly to the small natural precursors, large-volume 130 TeO 2 bolometers show high performance and even better internal purity (^210Po activity ∼ 1 mBq/kg, while activities of 228 Th and 226 Ra are below 0.01 mBq/kg), satisfying requirements for the CROSS and, potentially, next-generation experiments.
Authors
- A. Gallas
- D. V. Poda (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7238-7636)
- V. Berest (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4486-7445)
- A. Zolotarova
- M. M. Zarytskyy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6125-9214)
- J. M. Calvo-Mozota (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2823-8101)
- I. Dafinei
- Claire A. Marrache-Kikuchi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2842-0325)
- Aldo Ianni (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6962-3682)
- V. Kobychev (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0030-7451)
- Y. Peinaud
- Stefano De Nisi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3486-6091)
- F.A. Danevich
- F. Ferella (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4264-3170)
- L. Dumoulin
- F. T. Avignone
- V. I. Umatov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6881-3540)
- F. Ferri
- V.I. Tretyak (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2369-0679)
- H. Khalife
- E. Olivieri
- A. S. Barabash
- L. Bergé
- P. Carniti
- A. Giuliani (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0515-3773)
- S. Marnieros
- P. Loaiza
- M. Martínez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9043-4691)
- L. Imbert
- Ph. Rosier
- G. Pessina
- S.I. Konovalov
- C. Nones
- C. Gotti
- P. Gras
- P. de Marcillac
- J. A. Scarpaci
- A. Órtiz de Solórzano
- M. Chapellier
Institutions
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- University of South Carolina (US)
- Universidad de Zaragoza (ES)
- Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (FR)
- Université Paris-Saclay (FR)
- Kurchatov Institute (RU)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (IT)
- Valencian International University (ES)
- Fundacion Agencia Aragonesa para la Investigacion y el Desarrollo (ES)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Roma Tor Vergata (IT)
- Universidad Internacional De La Rioja (ES)
- Canfranc Underground Laboratory (ES)
- CEA Paris-Saclay (FR)
- Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules (FR)
- Laboratoire de Physique des 2 Infinis Irène Joliot-Curie (FR)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Milano Bicocca (IT)
- Institute for Nuclear Research (UA)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Roma I (IT)
- Institut de Recherche sur les Lois Fondamentales de l'Univers (FR)
- University of Milano-Bicocca (IT)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Instrumentation
- Published
- 2024-09-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/19/09/p09013
- Citations
- 3
- Primary Topic
- Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.98
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- National Research Foundation of Ukraine
- European Commission
- National Research Foundation
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche