The Felsenkeller shallow-underground laboratory for nuclear astrophysics

Abstract

In the Felsenkeller shallow-underground site, protected from cosmic muons by a 45 m thick rock overburden, a research laboratory including a 5 MV Pelletron ion accelerator and a number of radioactivity-measurement setups is located. The laboratory and its installations are described in detail. The background radiation has been studied, finding suppression factors of 40 for cosmic-ray muons, 200 for ambient neutrons, and 100 for the background in germanium $\gamma$-ray detectors. Using an additional active muon veto, typically the background is just twice as high as in very deep underground laboratories. The properties of the accelerator including its external and internal ion sources and beam line are given. For the radioactivity counting setup, detection limits in the 10${}^{-4}$ Bq range have been obtained. Practical aspects for the usage of the laboratory by outside scientific users are discussed.

Submitted to Eur. Phys. J. A

References in corpus (17)

• LUNA: Nuclear Astrophysics Deep Underground
• Precision study of ground state capture in the 14N(p,gamma)15O reaction
• LUNA: Status and Prospects
• Measurement of ${}^{19}$F($p$,$\gamma$)${}^{20}$Ne reaction suggests CNO break-out in first stars
• An actively vetoed Clover gamma-detector for nuclear astrophysics at LUNA
• Astrophysical S-factor of the ${}^{14}\text{N(p,}\gamma {\text{)}}^{15}\text{O}$ reaction at 0.4 -- 1.3\,MeV
• New proton-capture rates on carbon isotopes and their impact on the astrophysical ${}^{12}\mathrm{C}/{}^{13}\mathrm{C}$ ratio
• Exploring Stars in Underground Laboratories: Challenges and Solutions
• The muon intensity in the Felsenkeller shallow underground laboratory
• Neutron flux and spectrum in the Dresden Felsenkeller underground facility studied by moderated ${}^3$He counters
• Improved $S$-factor of the ${}^{12}$C(p,$\gamma$)${}^{13}$N reaction at $E=$320-620~keV and the 422~keV resonance
• A new ultra low-level HPGe activity counting setup in the Felsenkeller shallow-underground laboratory
• Measurement of the ${}^2$H($p,\gamma$)${}^3$He S-factor at 265-1094keV
• Strength of the $E_{\text{p}}$=1.842 MeV resonance in the ${}^{40}$Ca(p,$\gamma$)${}^{41}$Sc reaction revisited
• Cosmic-ray induced background intercomparison with actively shielded HPGe detectors at underground locations
• Long-term evolution of the neutron rate at the Canfranc Underground Laboratory
• Measurement of the neutron flux at the Canfranc Underground Laboratory with HENSA

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