TY - JOUR
T1 - LArGe R&D for active background suppression in Gerda
AU - Agostini, M.
AU - Barnabé-Heider, M.
AU - Budjáš, D.
AU - Cattadori, C.
AU - D'Andragora, A.
AU - Gangapshev, A.
AU - Gusev, K.
AU - Heisel, M.
AU - Junker, M.
AU - Klimenko, A.
AU - Schönert, S.
AU - Smolnikov, A.
AU - Zuzel, G.
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - LArGe is a GERDA low-background test facility to study novel background suppression methods in a low-background environment, for future application in the GERDA experiment. Similar to GERDA, LArGe operates bare germanium detectors submersed into liquid argon (1 m3, 1.4tons), which in addition is instrumented with photomultipliers to detect argon scintillation light. The light is used in anti-coincidence with the germanium detectors to effectively suppress background events that deposit energy in the liquid argon. The background suppression efficiency was studied in combination with a pulse shape discrimination (PSD) technique using a BEGe detector for various sources, which represent characteristic backgrounds to GERDA. Suppression factors of a few times 103 have been achieved. First background data of LArGe with a coaxial HPGe detector (without PSD) yield a background index of the order 10-2 cts/(keV-kg-y), which is at the level of the GERDA phase I design goal. As a consequence of these results, the development of an active liquid argon veto in GERDA is pursued.
AB - LArGe is a GERDA low-background test facility to study novel background suppression methods in a low-background environment, for future application in the GERDA experiment. Similar to GERDA, LArGe operates bare germanium detectors submersed into liquid argon (1 m3, 1.4tons), which in addition is instrumented with photomultipliers to detect argon scintillation light. The light is used in anti-coincidence with the germanium detectors to effectively suppress background events that deposit energy in the liquid argon. The background suppression efficiency was studied in combination with a pulse shape discrimination (PSD) technique using a BEGe detector for various sources, which represent characteristic backgrounds to GERDA. Suppression factors of a few times 103 have been achieved. First background data of LArGe with a coaxial HPGe detector (without PSD) yield a background index of the order 10-2 cts/(keV-kg-y), which is at the level of the GERDA phase I design goal. As a consequence of these results, the development of an active liquid argon veto in GERDA is pursued.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84864970128&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1088/1742-6596/375/1/042009
DO - 10.1088/1742-6596/375/1/042009
M3 - Conference article
AN - SCOPUS:84864970128
SN - 1742-6588
VL - 375
JO - Journal of Physics: Conference Series
JF - Journal of Physics: Conference Series
IS - PART 4
M1 - 042009
T2 - 12th International Conference on Topics in Astroparticle and Underground Physics, TAUP 2011
Y2 - 5 September 2011 through 9 September 2011
ER -