Performances of a large mass ZnMoO4 scintillating bolometer for a next generation 0νDBD experiment

J. W. Beeman; F. Bellini; C. Brofferio; L. Cardani; N. Casali; O. Cremonesi; I. Dafinei; S. Di Domizio; F. Ferroni; E. Gorello; E. N. Galashov; L. Gironi; S. S. Nagorny; F. Orio; M. Pavan; L. Pattavina; G. Pessina; G. Piperno; S. Pirro; E. Previtali; C. Rusconi; V. N. Shlegel; C. Tomei; M. Vignati

doi:10.1140/epjc/s10052-012-2142-7

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Particles and Fields

Open Access

Eur. Phys. J. C (2012) 72: 2142
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-012-2142-7

Regular Article - Experimental Physics

Performances of a large mass ZnMoO₄ scintillating bolometer for a next generation 0νDBD experiment

J. W. Beeman¹, F. Bellini²^,3, C. Brofferio⁴^,5, L. Cardani²^,3, N. Casali⁶^,7, O. Cremonesi⁵, I. Dafinei³, S. Di Domizio⁸, F. Ferroni²^,3, E. Gorello²^,3, E. N. Galashov⁹, L. Gironi⁴^,5, S. S. Nagorny¹⁰, F. Orio³, M. Pavan⁴^,5, L. Pattavina⁵, G. Pessina⁵, G. Piperno²^,3, S. Pirro⁵^v, E. Previtali⁵, C. Rusconi⁵, V. N. Shlegel⁹, C. Tomei³ and M. Vignati³

¹ Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 94720, Berkeley, CA, USA
² Dipartimento di Fisica, Sapienza Università di Roma, 00185, Rome, Italy
³ Sezione di Roma, INFN, 00185, Rome, Italy
⁴ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Milano-Bicocca, 20126, Milano, Italy
⁵ Sezione di Milano Bicocca, INFN, 20126, Milano, Italy
⁶ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli studi dell’Aquila, 67100, L’Aquila, Italy
⁷ Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, INFN, 67010, L’Aquila, Italy
⁸ Sezione di Genova, INFN, 16146, Genova, Italy
⁹ Nikolaev Institute of Inorganic Chemistry - SB RAS, 630090, Novosibirsk, Russia
¹⁰ Institute for Nuclear Research, 03680, Kyiv, Ukraine

^v Stefano.pirro@mib.infn.it

Received: 5 July 2012
Published online: 4 September 2012

Abstract

We present the performances of a 330 g zinc molybdate (ZnMoO₄) crystal working as scintillating bolometer as a possible candidate for a next generation experiment to search for neutrinoless double beta decay of ¹⁰⁰Mo. The energy resolution, evaluated at the 2615 keV γ-line of ²⁰⁸Tl, is 6.3 keV FWHM. The internal radioactive contaminations of the ZnMoO₄ were evaluated as <6 μBq/kg (²²⁸Th) and 27±6 μBq/kg (²²⁶Ra). We also present the results of the α vs β/γ discrimination, obtained through the scintillation light as well as through the study of the shape of the thermal signal alone.

Key words: Discrimination Power / Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay / Scintillation Light / Pulse Shape Discrimination / Neutron Transmutation Dope

© The Author(s) 2012

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