LArGe: Background suppression using liquid argon (LAr) scintillation for 0$νββ$ decay search with enriched germanium (Ge) detectors
arXiv:physics/0701001 · doi:10.1016/j.nuclphysbps.2007.07.019
Abstract
Measurements with a bare p-type high purity germanium diode (HPGe) submerged in a 19 kg liquid argon (LAr) scintillation detector at MPIK Heidelberg are reported. The liquid argon--germanium system (LArGe) is operated as a 4$Ï$ anti-Compton spectrometer to suppress backgrounds in the HPGe. This R&D is carried out in the framework of the GERDA experiment which searches for 0$νββ$ decays with HPGe detectors enriched in $^{76}$Ge. The goal of this work is to develop a novel method to discriminate backgrounds in 0$νββ$ search which would ultimately allow to investigate the effective neutrino mass free of background events down to the inverse mass hierarchy scale. Other applications in low-background counting are expected.
3 pages, 6 figures, conference proceedings of the 10th Topical Seminar on Innovative Particle and Radiation Detectors (IPRD06) 1 - 5 October 2006 Siena, Italy