Development of a Li2MoO4 scintillating bolometer for low background physics

TL;DR

This study demonstrates the potential of a Li2MoO4 scintillating bolometer for low-background physics applications, including dark matter detection and neutrinoless double-beta decay, with promising radiopurity and particle tagging capabilities.

Contribution

First detailed characterization of Li2MoO4 scintillating bolometer's performance and particle discrimination in underground conditions.

Findings

High radiopurity levels achieved (< 90 μBq/kg for 238-U)

Effective neutron tagging demonstrated

Light Yield measured for different particles

Abstract

We present the performance of a 33 g Li2MoO4 crystal working as a scintillating bolometer. The crystal was tested for more than 400 h in a dilution refrigerator installed in the underground laboratory of Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (Italy). This compound shows promising features in the frame of neutron detection, dark matter search (solar axions) and neutrinoless double-beta decay physics. Low temperature scintillating properties were investigated by means of different alpha, beta/gamma and neutron sources, and for the first time the Light Yield for different types of interacting particle is estimated. The detector shows great ability of tagging fast neutron interactions and high intrinsic radiopurity levels (< 90 \muBq/kg for 238-U and < 110 \muBq/kg for 232-Th).