Observation of a nuclear recoil peak at the 100 eV scale induced by neutron capture

Abstract

Coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering and low-mass Dark Matter detectors rely crucially on the understanding of their response to nuclear recoils. We report the first observation of a nuclear recoil peak at around 112 eV induced by neutron capture. The measurement was performed with a CaWO${}_4$ cryogenic detector from the NUCLEUS experiment exposed to a ${}^{252}$Cf source placed in a compact moderator. The measured spectrum is found in agreement with simulations and the expected peak structure from the single-${\hat{I}}^3$ de-excitation of ${}^{183}$W is identified with 3 $\ddot{I}ƒ$ significance. This result demonstrates a new method for precise, in-situ, and non-intrusive calibration of low-threshold experiments.