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

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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.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

10 Strategic Research Centers > Albert Einstein Center for Fundamental Physics (AEC)
08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geological Sciences
08 Faculty of Science > Physics Institute > Laboratory for High Energy Physics (LHEP)

UniBE Contributor:

von Sivers, Moritz, Hofmann, Beda Anton, Rosén, Åke Viktor, Schumann, Marc

Subjects:

500 Science > 530 Physics
500 Science > 550 Earth sciences & geology

ISSN:

1748-0221

Publisher:

Institute of Physics Publishing IOP

Language:

English

Submitter:

Beda Anton Hofmann

Date Deposited:

10 May 2017 10:19

Last Modified:

02 Mar 2023 23:29

Publisher DOI:

10.1088/1748-0221/11/12/P12017

ArXiv ID:

1606.03983

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.99746

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/99746

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