Barium Chemosensors with Dry-Phase Fluorescence for Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay

Abstract

The nature of the neutrino is one of the major open questions in experimental nuclear and particle physics. The most sensitive known method to establish the Majorana nature of the neutrino is detection of the ultra-rare process of neutrinoless double beta decay. However, identification of one or a handful of decay events within a large mass of candidate isotope, without obfuscation by backgrounds is a formidable experimental challenge. One hypothetical method for achieving ultra-low-background neutrinoless double beta decay sensitivity is the detection of single ${}^{136}$Ba ions produced in the decay of ${}^{136}$Xe (`barium tagging'). To implement such a method, a single-ion-sensitive barium detector must be developed and demonstrated in bulk liquid or dry gaseous xenon. This paper reports on the development of two families of dry-phase barium chemosensor molecules for use in high pressure xenon gas detectors, synthesized specifically for this purpose. One particularly promising candidate, an anthracene substituted aza-18-crown-6 ether, is shown to respond in the dry phase with almost no intrinsic background from the unchelated state, and to be amenable to barium sensing through fluorescence microscopy. This interdisciplinary advance, paired with earlier work demonstrating sensitivity to single barium ions in solution, opens a new path toward single ion detection in high pressure xenon gas.

arXiv commentUpdate to version accepted by Nature Scientific Reports Supplementary information is included in the source .tar file

References in corpus (14)

• Search for Majorana Neutrinos near the Inverted Mass Hierarchy Region with KamLAND-Zen
• Theory of neutrinoless double beta decay
• Improved limit on neutrinoless double beta decay of ${}^{76}$Ge from GERDA Phase II
• Search for Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay with the Upgraded EXO-200 Detector
• Search for Zero-Neutrino Double Beta Decay in 76Ge with the Majorana Demonstrator
• Neutrinoless double-beta decay. A brief review
• Neutron background in large-scale xenon detectors for dark matter searches
• Demonstration of Single Barium Ion Sensitivity for Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay using Single Molecule Fluorescence Imaging
• Measurements of the ion fraction and mobility of alpha and beta decay products in liquid xenon using EXO-200
• An RF-only ion-funnel for extraction from high-pressure gases
• Spectroscopy of Ba and Ba${}^{+}$ deposits in solid xenon for barium tagging in nEXO
• Radiopurity control in the NEXT-100 double beta decay experiment: procedures and initial measurements
• Radiopurity assessment of the tracking readout for the NEXT double beta decay experiment
• Imaging individual barium atoms in solid xenon for barium tagging in nEXO

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Radiogenic backgrounds in the NEXT double beta decay experiment
• Double Beta Decay APPEC Committee Report
• Status and prospects of the NEXT experiment for neutrinoless double beta decay searches