Neutrino-Less Double Beta Decay Experiment Using Ca 100 MoO 4 Scintillation Crystals

• Published in: IEEE transactions on nuclear science 2010-06, Vol.57 (3), p.1475-1480
• Main Authors: Kim, HJ, Annenkov, AN, Boiko, R S, Buzanov, O A, Chernyak, D M, Cho, J H, Danevich, F A, Dossovitsky, A E, Rooh, Gul, Kang, U K, Kim, MJ, Kim, S C, Kim, S K, Kim, Y D, Kobychev, V V, Kornoukhov, V N, Kosmyna, M B, Lee, S J, Lee, JI, Lee, J H, Myung, S S, Nazarenko, B P, Nikolaiko, A S, Podviyanuk, R B, Puzikov, V M, Shekhovtsov, AN, So, J H, Solskii, I, Tretyak, VI, Veresnikova, A V
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Beta decay; Crystals; Depletion; Enrichment; Reduction; Scintillation; Searching; Underground
• ISSN: 0018-9499; 1558-1578
• DOI: 10.1109/TNS.2010.2043264

Search for neutrino-less double beta decay of 100 Mo is proposed using active method with Ca 100 MoO 4 scintillation crystals which show the brightest scintillation light among variety of inorganic scintillation materials containing Mo. Study of X-ray luminescence and scintillation properties such as energy response, number of photoelectrons/keV, absolute light yield, decay time, pulse shape discrimination and radioactive contamination of CaMoO 4 crystals grown by the Czochralski method with different conditions are presented. Further R&D of resolution optimization, crystal quality improvement and background reduction are underway. Significant improvement of sensitivity to neutrino-less double beta decay can be achieved by using 100 Mo enriched Ca 100 MoO 4 crystals with good energy resolution and low background. Further reduction of background induced by 48 Ca two neutrino double beta decay can be achieved by using 48 Ca depletion. We are planning to install several kilograms of Ca 100 MoO 4 crystals depleted in 48 Ca at underground laboratory for the neutrino-less double beta decay experiment in the near future.