Background suppression in massive TeO2 bolometers with Neganov-Luke amplified light detectors
Abstract
Bolometric detectors are excellent devices for the investigation of neutrinoless double-beta decay (0ββ). The observation of such decay would demonstrate the violation of lepton number, and at the same time it would necessarily imply that neutrinos have a Majorana character. The sensitivity of cryogenic detectors based on TeO2 is strongly limited by the alpha background in the region of interest for the 0ββ of 130Te. It has been demonstrated that particle discrimination in TeO2 bolometers is possible measuring the Cherenkov light produced by particle interactions. However an event-by-event discrimination with NTD-based light detectors has to be demonstrated. We will discuss the performance of a highly-sensitive light detector exploiting the Neganov-Luke effect for signal amplification. The detector, being operated with NTD-thermistor and coupled to a 750 g TeO2 crystal, shows the ability for an event-by-event identification of electron/gamma and alpha particles. The extremely low detector baseline noise, RMS 19 eV, demonstrates the possibility to enhance the sensitivity of TeO2-based 0ββ experiment to an unprecedented level.
Turn this paper into a lesson
ArcXiv compiles a structured reading guide from this paper's metadata: plain-English importance, contributions, prerequisite concepts, which sections to read first, flashcards, and a quiz. Grounded in the abstract, never invented.