The GeMSE facility for low-background γ-ray spectrometry

von Sivers, Moritz; Hofmann, Beda; Rosén, Åke Viktor; Schumann, Marc (2016). The GeMSE facility for low-background γ-ray spectrometry. Journal of instrumentation, 11(12), P12017-P12017. Institute of Physics Publishing IOP 10.1088/1748-0221/11/12/P12017

Text Sivers_2016_J._Inst._11_P12017 Kopie.pdf - Published Version Restricted to registered users only Available under License Publisher holds Copyright. Download (1MB)

We describe a new high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector setup for low-background γ-ray spectrometry. The GeMSE facility (Germanium Material and meteorite Screening Experi- ment) is dedicated to material screening for rare event searches in astroparticle physics as well as to the characterization of meteorites. It is installed in a medium depth (~620 m.w.e.) underground laboratory in Switzerland in a multi-layer shielding and is equipped with an active muon veto. We have reached a very competitive integral background rate of (246 ± 2) counts/day (100–2700 keV) and measured a sensitivity of ~0.5–0.6 mBq/kg for long-lived isotopes from the 238U/232Th chains in a ~1 kg sample screened for ~27 days. An extrapolation to higher sample masses and mea- surement times suggests a maximum sensitivity in the O(50) μBq/kg range. We describe the data analysis based on Bayesian statistics, background simulations, the efficiency calibration and first sample measurements.

Interest & Impact

Downloads

4 since deposited on 10 May 2017
0 in the past 12 months

Citations

5 Citations in Web of Science ®
6 Citations in Scopus

Search

in Google Scholar™

Services

Actions (login required)

Edit item

Actions (login required)

Edit item