An innovative technique for the investigation of the 4-fold forbidden beta-decay of $^{50}$V

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the first use of a Vanadium-based crystal as a cryogenic detector to investigate the rare 4-fold forbidden beta decay of $^{50}$V, showing promising performance and outlining future improvements.

Contribution

It introduces a novel cryogenic detection technique using a Vanadium-based crystal for studying elusive nuclear decay processes.

Findings

Successful operation of a Vanadium-based crystal as a cryogenic detector

Measurement of internal radioactive contaminations in the crystal

Potential for future detection of $^{50}$V beta decay

Abstract

For the first time a Vanadium-based crystal was operated as cryogenic particle detector. The scintillating low temperature calorimetric technique was used for the characterization of a 22 g YVO$_4$ crystal aiming at the investigation of the 4-fold forbidden non-unique $\beta^-$ decay of $^{50}$V. The excellent bolometric performance of the compound together with high light output of the crystal makes it an outstanding technique for the study of such elusive rate process. The internal radioactive contaminations of the crystal are also investigated showing that an improvement on the current status of material selection and purification are needed, $^{235/238}$U and $^{232}$Th are measured at the level of 28 mBq/kg, 1.3 Bq/kg and 28 mBq/kg, respectively. In this work, we also discuss a future upgrade of the experimental set-up which may pave the road for the detection of the rare $^{50}$V $\beta^-$ decay.