Cryogenic light detectors with enhanced performance for rare events physics

Abstract

We have developed and tested a new way of coupling bolometric light detectors to scintillating crystal bolometers based upon simply resting the light detector on the crystal surface, held in position only by gravity. This straightforward mounting results in three important improvements: (1) it decreases the amount of non-active materials needed to assemble the detector, (2) it substantially increases the light collection efficiency by minimizing the light losses induced by the mounting structure, and (3) it enhances the thermal signal induced in the light detector thanks to the extremely weak thermal link to the thermal bath. We tested this new technique with a 16 cm${}^2$ Ge light detector with thermistor readout sitting on the surface of a large TeO${}_2$ bolometer. The light collection efficiency was increased by greater than 50\% compared to previously tested alternative mountings. We obtained a baseline energy resolution on the light detector of 20~eV RMS that, together with increased light collection, enabled us to obtain the best $\alpha$ vs $\beta /\gamma$ discrimination ever obtained with massive TeO${}_2$ crystals. At the same time we achieved rise and decay times of 0.8 and 1.6 ms, respectively. This superb performance meets all of the requirements for the CUPID (CUORE Upgrade with Particle IDentification) experiment, which is a 1-ton scintillating bolometer follow up to CUORE.

arXiv comment6 pages, 4 figures

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Cited by in corpus (11)

• The CUPID-Mo experiment for neutrinoless double-beta decay: performance and prospects
• Performance of a Large Area Photon Detector For Rare Event Search Applications
• Pushing the frontier of WIMPy inelastic dark matter: journey to the end of the periodic table
• CUPID, the CUORE Upgrade with Particle IDentification
• Final results of CALDER: Kinetic inductance light detectors to search for rare events
• Phonon and light read out of a Li${}_2$MoO${}_4$ crystal with multiplexed kinetic inductance detectors
• Na-based crystal scintillators for next-generation rare event searches
• A first test of CUPID prototypal light detectors with NTD-Ge sensors in a pulse-tube cryostat
• A novel mechanical design of a bolometric array for the CROSS double-beta decay experiment
• Development of cryogenic calorimeters to measure the spectral shape of In-115 beta decay
• Characterization of Light Production and Transport in Tellurium Dioxide Crystals