3 research outputs found
Application of the Monte-Carlo refractive index matching (MCRIM) technique to the determination of the absolute light yield of a calcium molybdate scintillator
The use of 40Ca100MoO in experimental searches for neutrinoless double beta decay (0νDBD) relies on knowledge of fundamental scintillation properties of the material. In this work we determine the absolute light yield of calcium molybdate using Monte-Carlo refractive index matching technique (MCRIM). The MCRIM technique is a combination of experiment and simulations that allows the absolute light yield of scintillators to be determined by taking into account effects of refraction, scattering and absorption in the material. The light collection efficiency of the scintillator-detector assembly was simulated using the ZEMAX ray-tracing software. By tuning the optical parameters of the scintillation crystal, a model was derived that gives good agreement with the experimental results. It is shown that the light collection efficiency of scintillators increases with transmittance and scattering due to an enhanced probability for photons to escape the crystal volume. Using MCRIM, the absolute light yield for the 40Ca100MoO4 scintillator was found to be 7.5±1.2 ph/keV at room temperature. Comparative measurements using a CaWO4 scintillator as a reference show good agreement with this result. In that way, the study demonstrated the potential of the MCRIM technique as a tool for quantitative characterization of scintillation materials. © 2013 IOP Publishing Ltd and Sissa Medialab srl
Growth and characterization of isotopically enriched 40Ca100MoO4 single crystals for rare event search experiments
Calcium molybdate is considered as a very promising scintillator material for experimental studies of rare processes. This paper reports on the production and characterization of a 40Ca100MoO4 scintillator. Using the Czochralski technique, a crystal of high optical quality with total mass 0.55 kg, 42 mm diameter (minimum) and 53 mm 1ength of the cylindrical section was produced from isotopically enriched raw materials, containing 96.1% of 100Mo and 99.964% of 40Ca. To satisfy the requirement of low intrinsic radioactivity the purity of the materials was monitored at different stages of the production process and it is shown that the concentration of 238U and 232Th in the final crystal does not exceed 0.05 ppb. The scintillation properties of 40Ca 100MoO4 were measured over the 8 - 300 K temperature range and it is found that the light yield of the 40Ca 100MoO4 crystal is very similar to that of the CaMoO 4 reference scintillator. © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim