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Characterization of an ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystal scintillator with the SABRE Proof-of-Principle detector
Abstract The SABRE experiment aims to detect the annual modulation of the dark matter interaction rate by means of ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals. It focuses on the achievement of a very low background to carry out a model-independent and high sensitivity test of the long-standing DAMA result. SABRE has recently completed a Proof-of-Principle (PoP) phase at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory, devoted to assess the radiopurity of the crystals. The results on the radiopurity of a 3.4-kg NaI(Tl) crystal scintillator grown within the SABRE Collaboration and operated underground in the SABRE-PoP setup, will be reported and discussed. The amount of potassium content in the crystal, determined by direct counting of 40 K, is found to be < 4.7 ppb at 90% CL. The average background rate in the 1-6 keV energy region of interest (ROI) is 1.20 ± 0.05 counts/day/kg/keV, which is, for the first time, comparable with DAMA/LIBRA-phasel. Our background model indicates that this rate is dominated by 210 Pb, and that about half of this contamination is located in the PTFE reflector wrapped around the crystal. Ongoing developments aimed at a further reduction of radioactive contaminants in the crystal indicates that a background rate ≤ 0.3 counts/day/kg/keV in more »
Authors:
Award ID(s):
Publication Date:
NSF-PAR ID:
10353459
Journal Name:
Journal of Physics: Conference Series
Volume:
2156
Issue:
1
Page Range or eLocation-ID:
012022
ISSN:
1742-6588
Ultra-pure NaI(Tl) crystals are the key element for a model-independent verification of the long standing DAMA result and a powerful means to search for the annual modulation signature of dark matter interactions. The SABRE collaboration has been developing cutting-edge techniques for the reduction of intrinsic backgrounds over several years. In this paper we report the first characterization of a 3.4 kg crystal, named NaI-33, performed in an underground passive shielding setup at LNGS. NaI-33 has a record low$$^{39}$$${}^{39}$K contamination of 4.3 ± 0.2 ppb as determined by mass spectrometry. We measured a light yield of 11.1 ± 0.2 photoelectrons/keV and an energy resolution of 13.2% (FWHM/E) at 59.5 keV. We evaluated the activities of$$^{226}$$${}^{226}$Ra and$$^{228}$$${}^{228}$Th inside the crystal to be$$5.9\pm 0.6~\upmu$$$5.9±0.6\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}\mu$Bq/kg and$$1.6\pm 0.3~\upmu$$$1.6±0.3\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}\mu$Bq/kg, respectively, which would indicate a contamination from$$^{238}$$${}^{238}$U and$$^{232}$$${}^{232}$Th at part-per-trillion level. We measured an activity of 0.51 ± 0.02 mBq/kg due to$$^{210}$$${}^{210}$Pb out of equilibrium and a$$\alpha$$$\alpha$quenching factor of 0.63 ± 0.01 at 5304 keV. We illustrate the analyses techniques developed to reject electronic noise in the lower part of the energy spectrum. A cut-based strategy and a multivariate approach indicated a rate, attributed to the intrinsic radioactivity of the crystal, of$$\sim$$$\sim$1 count/day/kg/keV in the [5–20] keV region.
5. Abstract We present a background model for dark matter searches using an array of NaI(Tl) crystals in the COSINE-100 experiment that is located in the Yangyang underground laboratory. The model includes background contributions from both internal and external sources, including cosmogenic radionuclides and surface $$^{210}$$ 210 Pb contamination. To build the model in the low energy region, with a threshold of 1 keV, we used a depth profile of $$^{210}$$ 210 Pb contamination in the surface of the NaI(Tl) crystals determined in a comparison between measured and simulated spectra. We also considered the effect of the energy scale errors propagated from the statistical uncertainties and the nonlinear detector response at low energies. The 1.7 years COSINE-100 data taken between October 21, 2016 and July 18, 2018 were used for this analysis. Our Monte Carlo simulation provides a non-Gaussian peak around 50 keV originating from beta decays of bulk $$^{210}$$ 210 Pb in a good agreement with the measured background. This model estimates that the activities of bulk $$^{210}$$ 210 Pb and $$^{3}$$ 3 H are dominating the background rate that amounts to an average level of $$2.85\pm 0.15$$ 2.85 ± 0.15  counts/day/keV/kg in the energy region of (1–6) keV, using COSINE-100 data with amore »