The Majorana Demonstrator radioassay program

N. Abgrall, I. J. Arnquist, F. T. Avignone, H. O. Back, A. S. Barabash, F. E. Bertrand, M. Boswell, A. W. Bradley, V. Brudanin, M. Busch, M. Buuck, D. Byram, A. S. Caldwell, Y. D. Chan, C. D. Christofferson, P. H. Chu, C. Cuesta, J. A. Detwiler, J. A. Dunmore, Yu EfremenkoH. Ejiri, S. R. Elliott, P. Finnerty, A. Galindo-Uribarri, V. M. Gehman, T. Gilliss, G. K. Giovanetti, J. Goett, M. P. Green, J. Gruszko, I. S. Guinn, V. E. Guiseppe, R. Henning, E. W. Hoppe, S. Howard, M. A. Howe, B. R. Jasinski, R. A. Johnson, K. J. Keeter, M. F. Kidd, O. Kochetov, S. I. Konovalov, R. T. Kouzes, B. D. LaFerriere, J. Leon, J. C. Loach, J. Macmullin, S. Macmullin, R. D. Martin, R. Massarczyk, S. Meijer, S. Mertens, M. L. Miller, J. L. Orrell, C. O'Shaughnessy, N. R. Overman, A. W.P. Poon, K. Pushkin, D. C. Radford, J. Rager, K. Rielage, R. G.H. Robertson, E. Romero-Romero, M. C. Ronquest, A. G. Schubert, B. Shanks, M. Shirchenko, K. J. Snavely, N. Snyder, D. Steele, A. M. Suriano, D. Tedeschi, J. E. Trimble, R. L. Varner, S. Vasilyev, K. Vetter, K. Vorren, B. R. White, J. F. Wilkerson, C. Wiseman, W. Xu, E. Yakushev, C. H. Yu, V. Yumatov, I. Zhitnikov

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

96 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Majorana collaboration is constructing the Majorana Demonstrator at the Sanford Underground Research Facility at the Homestake gold mine, in Lead, SD. The apparatus will use Ge detectors, enriched in isotope 76Ge, to demonstrate the feasibility of a large-scale Ge detector experiment to search for neutrinoless double beta decay. The long half-life of this postulated process requires that the apparatus be extremely low in radioactive isotopes whose decays may produce backgrounds to the search. The radioassay program conducted by the collaboration to ensure that the materials comprising the apparatus are sufficiently pure is described. The resulting measurements from gamma-ray counting, neutron activation and mass spectroscopy of the radioactive-isotope contamination for the materials studied for use in the detector are reported. We interpret these numbers in the context of the expected background for the experiment.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)22-36
Number of pages15
JournalNuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
Volume828
DOIs
StatePublished - 21 Aug 2016
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Double beta decay
  • Germanium counting
  • Low background
  • Majorana
  • Mass spectrometry
  • Mass spectroscopy
  • Neutron activation analysis
  • Radiopurity
  • Trace analysis

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