Conveners
Low Background Assay Techniques
- Aldo Ianni (INFN LNGS)
Low Background Assay Techniques
- Isaac Arnquist (PNNL)
Since its first development in the mid-1980s, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) quickly became the ‘gold standard’ for quantitative elemental analysis. Through iterative optimization in design, hardware, and software, ICP-MS continues to provide ever-impressive analytical figures of merit (e.g., sensitivity, resolution, etc.) and, thus, grow in new application arenas. It...
The sensitivity of rare event research experiments depends on the background signals and, therefore, a complete characterization of the radiopurity of materials is required. Due to its unique features, Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) has become in a reference technique for testing materials in low background experiment research, especially for quantification of those...
The need to test all kinds of materials for unprecedented levels of radioactivity is a common problem for many low rate, low energy experiments. This problem can be approached by counting decays or decaying atoms. When focusing on natural radioactivity, the latter approach, in form of mass spectrometry or neutron activation analysis (NAA), often offers the best sensitivity. In my presentation...
This talk presents the next generation screening detector, GeMPI-Neo, which is currently being developed at MPIK in collaboration with LNGS. Based on a full decomposition of the background spectrum of the existing GeMPI detectors a new and improved shield design for GeMPI-Neo was developed. Additionally GeMPI-Neo will employ two HPGe detectors for greater sensitivity in order to meet the needs...
Sourcing radiopure materials for use in ultra-low background detectors is critical to the success of rare-event searches (i.e., direct detection of dark matter, neutrinoless double beta decay, etc.). When considering material radiopurity, minimizing contributions from primordial radionuclides (i.e., 238U and 232Th) and their progeny is a matter of the utmost importance. Current inductively...
Copper is a material that finds a wide range of use as it usually has a high purity in terms of contamination regards to Th and U, this feature makes it suitable for nuclear physics experiments where a very low degree of contaminations is required to obtain low background. Given high purity of copper, mass spectrometry analysis performed by dilution is a bad way because it would be very...
The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) is a multi-purpose neutrino experiment currently under construction in southern China.
The detector consists of a 35.4 m diameter acrylic sphere filled with 20 000 t of ultra-pure liquid scintillator and makes JUNO the largest liquid scintillator-based, underground neutrino observatory. The primary goal of JUNO is to determine the neutrino...
The Institute for Basic Science Center for Underground Physics continues operation of a range of instruments for measurements of radioactive decays in support of underground rare-event search experimental campaigns previously operating at the Yangyang Underground Lab, and now proceeding at the new Yemilab facility in Korea. A particularly unusual instrument, the CAGe detector array, is...
Low-radioactive material screening is becoming essential for rare event search experiments. A gaseous time projection chamber (TPC) can be used for such purposes with large active areas and high efficiency. A gaseous TPC with a Micromegas readout plane of approximately 40 × 60 cm2 is successfully constructed for surface alpha contamination measurements. We have characterized the energy...
