Phonon and light read out of a crystal with multiplexed kinetic inductance detectors

N. Casali; L. Cardani; I. Colantoni; A. Cruciani; S. Di Domizio; M. Martinez; G. Pettinari; M. Vignati

doi:10.1140/epjc/s10052-019-7242-1

2024 Impact factor 4.8

Particles and Fields

Open Access

Eur. Phys. J. C (2019) 79: 724
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-019-7242-1

Regular Article - Experimental Physics

Phonon and light read out of a $\hbox {Li}_{2}\hbox {MoO}_{4}$ crystal with multiplexed kinetic inductance detectors

N. Casali¹^*, L. Cardani¹, I. Colantoni¹^,2, A. Cruciani¹, S. Di Domizio³^,4, M. Martinez⁵^,6, G. Pettinari⁷ and M. Vignati¹

¹ INFN-Sezione di Roma, Rome, 00185, Italy
² Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Nanotecnologia (CNR-NANOTEC), c/o Dip. Fisica, Sapienza Università di Roma, Rome, 00185, Italy
³ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Genova, Genoa, 16146, Italy
⁴ INFN-Sezione di Genova, Genoa, 16146, Italy
⁵ Laboratorio de Física Nuclear y Astropartículas, Universidad de Zaragoza, C/Pedro Cerbuna 12, 50009, Zaragoza, Spain
⁶ Fundación ARAID, Av. de Ranillas 1D, 50018, Zaragoza, Spain
⁷ Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Fotonica e Nanotecnologie (CNR-IFN), Via Cineto Romano 42, 00156, Rome, Italy

^* e-mail: nicola.casali@roma1.infn.it

Received: 8 July 2019
Accepted: 22 August 2019
Published online: 28 August 2019

Abstract

Molybdenum based crystals such as $\hbox {Li}_{2}\hbox {MoO}_{4}$ and CaMoO $$_4$$ are emerging as leading candidates for next generation experiments searching for neutrino-less double beta decay with cryogenic calorimeters (CUPID, AMoRE). The exquisite energy resolution and high radio-purity of these crystals come at the cost of a potentially detrimental background source: the two neutrinos double beta decay of $^{100}$ Mo. Indeed, the fast half-life of this decay mode, combined with the slow response of cryogenic calorimeters, would result in pile-up events in the energy region of interest for neutrino-less double beta decay, reducing the experimental sensitivity. This background can be suppressed using fast and high sensitivity cryogenic light detectors, provided that the scintillation time constant itself does not limit the time resolution. We developed a new detection technique exploiting the high sensitivity, the fast time response and the multiplexing capability of Kinetic Inductance Detectors. We applied the proposed technique to a $2\times 2\times 2$ cm $$^3$$ $\hbox {Li}_{2}\hbox {MoO}_{4}$ crystal, which was chosen as baseline option for CUPID. We measured simultaneously both the phonon and scintillation signals with KIDs. We derived the scintillation time constant of this compound at millikelvin temperatures obtaining $\tau _{scint} = 84.5\pm 4.5\mathrm {(syst)}\pm 1.0\mathrm {(stat)}$ $\mu$ s, constant between 10 and 190 mK.