Low-Temperature Scintillation Properties of CaWO4 Crystals for Rare-Event Searches

Abstract

In prospect of its application in cryogenic rare-event searches, we have investigated the low-temperature scintillation properties of CaWO4 crystals down to 3.4 K under α and γ excitation. Concerning the scintillation decay times, we observe a long component in the ms range which significantly contributes to the light yield below 40K. For the first time we have measured the temperature dependence of the α/γ- ratio of the light yield. This parameter which can be used to discriminate α and γ events in scintillating bolometers is found to be about 8-15% smaller at low temperatures compared to room temperature.

The following article has been accepted by Journal of Applied Physics. After it is published, it will be found at http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/jap