Eur. Phys. J. C (2017) 77: 785
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-017-5343-2

Regular Article - Experimental Physics

Development of -containing scintillating bolometers for a high-sensitivity neutrinoless double-beta decay search

¹ IRFU, CEA, Université Paris-Saclay, 91191, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
² Univ Lyon, Université Lyon 1, CNRS/IN2P3, IPN-Lyon, 69622, Villeurbanne, France
³ National Research Centre Kurchatov Institute, Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics, 117218, Moscow, Russia
⁴ Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
⁵ V.S. Sobolev Institute of Geology and Mineralogy of the Siberian Branch of the RAS, 630090, Novosibirsk, Russia
⁶ Dipartimento di Fisica, Sapienza Università di Roma, P.le Aldo Moro 2, 00185, Rome, Italy
⁷ INFN, Sezione di Roma, P.le Aldo Moro 2, 00185, Rome, Italy
⁸ CNRS-Néel, 38042, Grenoble Cedex 9, France
⁹ CSNSM, Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS/IN2P3, Université Paris-Saclay, 91405, Orsay, France
¹⁰ Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institut für Prozessdatenverarbeitung und Elektronik, 76021, Karlsruhe, Germany
¹¹ Institute for Nuclear Research, 03028, Kyiv, Ukraine
¹² Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institut für Experimentelle Teilchenphysik, 76128, Karlsruhe, Germany
¹³ Laboratory of Nuclear Problems, JINR, 141980, Dubna, Moscow Region, Russia
¹⁴ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Milano Bicocca, 20126, Milan, Italy
¹⁵ INFN, Sezione di Milano Bicocca, 20126, Milan, Italy
¹⁶ IRAMIS, CEA, Université Paris-Saclay, 91191, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
¹⁷ IAS, CNRS, Université Paris-Sud, 91405, Orsay, France
¹⁸ Orphée, CEA, Université Paris-Saclay, 91191, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
¹⁹ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Genova, 16146, Genoa, Italy
²⁰ INFN Sezione di Genova, 16146, Genoa, Italy
²¹ Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institut für Kernphysik, 76021, Karlsruhe, Germany
²² Kirchhoff Institute for Physics, Heidelberg University, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany
²³ DISAT, Università dell’Insubria, 22100, Como, Italy
²⁴ Nikolaev Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, 630090, Novosibirsk, Russia
²⁵ Laboratoire de Photonique et de Nanostructures, CNRS, Route de Nozay, 91460, Marcoussis, France
²⁶ Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3RH, UK
²⁷ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sheffield, Hounsfield Road, Sheffield, S3 7RH, UK
²⁸ INFN, Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, 67100, Assergi, AQ, Italy
²⁹ CEA, LIST, Laboratoire National Henri Becquerel (LNE-LNHB), CEA-Saclay, 91191, Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
³⁰ INFN, Gran Sasso Science Institute, 67100, L’Aquila, Italy
³¹ INFN, Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, Frascati, 00044, Rome, Italy
³² Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA
³³ ICMCB, CNRS, Université de Bordeaux, 33608, Pessac Cedex, France
³⁴ Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (WPI), The University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan
³⁵ Max-Planck-Institut für Physik, Munich, Germany
³⁶ SNOLAB, Lively, ON, Canada

^* e-mail: denys.poda@csnsm.in2p3.fr

Received: 7 April 2017
Accepted: 2 November 2017
Published online: 21 November 2017

Abstract

This paper reports on the development of a technology involving -enriched scintillating bolometers, compatible with the goals of CUPID, a proposed next-generation bolometric experiment to search for neutrinoless double-beta decay. Large mass (), high optical quality, radiopure -containing zinc and lithium molybdate crystals have been produced and used to develop high performance single detector modules based on 0.2–0.4 kg scintillating bolometers. In particular, the energy resolution of the lithium molybdate detectors near the Q-value of the double-beta transition of (3034 keV) is 4–6 keV FWHM. The rejection of the -induced dominant background above 2.6 MeV is better than . Less than activity of and in the crystals is ensured by boule recrystallization. The potential of -enriched scintillating bolometers to perform high sensitivity double-beta decay searches has been demonstrated with only exposure: the two neutrino double-beta decay half-life of has been measured with the up-to-date highest accuracy as = [6.90 ± 0.15(stat.) ± 0.37(syst.)] . Both crystallization and detector technologies favor lithium molybdate, which has been selected for the ongoing construction of the CUPID-0/Mo demonstrator, containing several kg of .