Performance of bare high-purity germanium detectors in liquid argon for the GERDA experiment

The GERmanium Detector Array, GERDA, will search for neutrinoless double beta decay in 76 Ge at the National Gran Sasso Laboratory of the INFN. Bare high-purity germanium detectors enriched in 76 Ge will be submerged in liquid argon serving simultaneously as a shield against external radioactivity a...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Barnabe Heider, M., Cattadori, C., Chkvorets, O., Di Vacri, A., Gusev, K., Schonert, S., Shirchenko, M.
Format: Conference Proceeding
Language:English
Subjects:
Argon
Collaboration
Cooling
Detectors
GERDA
Germanium
HPGe detector
Laboratories
liquid argon
neutrinoless double beta decay
Phase detection
Radioactive decay
Sensor arrays
Testing
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Summary:The GERmanium Detector Array, GERDA, will search for neutrinoless double beta decay in 76 Ge at the National Gran Sasso Laboratory of the INFN. Bare high-purity germanium detectors enriched in 76 Ge will be submerged in liquid argon serving simultaneously as a shield against external radioactivity and as a cooling medium. In GERDA Phase-I, reprocessed enriched-Ge detectors, which were previously operated by the Heidelberg-Moscow and IGEX collaborations, will be redeployed. Before operating the enriched detectors, tests are performed with non-enriched bare HPGe detectors in the GERDA underground Detector Laboratory to test the Phase-I detector assembly, the detector handling protocols, the refurbishment technology and to study the long-term stability in liquid argon. The leakage currents in liquid argon and liquid nitrogen have been extensively studied under varying gamma irradiation conditions. In total three non-enriched high-purity p-type prototype germanium detectors have been operated successfully. The detector performance is stable over the long-term measurements. For the first time, performance of bare high-purity germanium detectors in liquid argon is reported.
ISSN:1082-3654
2577-0829
DOI:10.1109/NSSMIC.2008.4775094