Pre-study of a Li2MoO4 based bolometer for 100Mo neutrinoless double beta decay experiment in China

TL;DR

This paper investigates the properties and performance of Li2MoO4 crystal-based bolometers at low temperatures for neutrinoless double beta decay detection, demonstrating promising results for future experiments in China.

Contribution

It provides a detailed characterization of Li2MoO4 crystals at cryogenic temperatures and reports the successful development and testing of a bolometer prototype for neutrinoless double beta decay research.

Findings

Li2MoO4 crystals exhibit suitable scintillation and heat capacity properties at low temperatures.

A 2 cm^3 bolometer prototype achieved good energy resolution at millikelvin temperatures.

The study establishes a foundation for future bolometer-based neutrinoless double beta decay experiments in China.

Abstract

The cryogenic phonon scintillating bolometer is a promising and extremely attractive option to search for the nuclide neutrinoless double beta decay. In this paper, a pre-study of bolometer based on Li2MoO4 (LMO) crystal is presented, in which the properties of the LMO crystal at the low temperature, including scintillation characteristics and specific heat, are investigated in detail. The excitation spectrum and light yield are measured from the room temperature down to 10 K, and heat capacity is measured down to temperature of O(200) mK. Furthermore, a (2 cm)3 cubic LMO based bolometer is manufactured and tested at ultra-low mK-level temperature in a ground-above cryostat platform, and a good energy resolution is achieved. The studies laid a foundation to manufacture the bolometer detector in China and conduct neutrinoless double beta decay research at the China Jinping Underground Laborator