Cryostat for Ultra-Low-Energy Threshold Germanium Spectrometers

Author

Aalseth, C.E. ; Bonicalzi, R.M. ; Fast, James E. ; Hossbach, T.W. ; Orrell, J.L. ; Overman, C.T. ; VanDevender, Brent A.

Author_Institution

Northwest Nat. Lab., Richland, WA, USA

Volume

60

Issue

2

fYear

2013

fDate

Apr-13

Firstpage

1168

Lastpage

1174

Abstract

This paper presents progress on the development of a cryostat intended to improve upon the low-energy threshold (below 0.5 keV) of p-type point contact germanium gamma-ray spectrometers. Ultra-low energy thresholds are important in the detection of low-energy nuclear recoils, an event class relevant to both dark matter direct detection and measurement of coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering. The cryostat design, including a thermal and electrical-field model, is given. A prototype cryostat has been assembled and data acquired to evaluate its vacuum and thermal performance.

Keywords

cryostats; dark matter; gamma-ray spectrometers; germanium radiation detectors; neutrino-nucleus scattering; coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering; cryostat design; cryostat development; dark matter direct detection; electrical-field model; low-energy nuclear recoils; p-type point contact germanium gamma-ray spectrometers; prototype cryostat; thermal model; thermal performance; ultra-low-energy threshold germanium spectrometers; vacuum performance; Capacitance; Copper; Crystals; Detectors; Germanium; Joints; Noise; Cryostat; electrical-field model; low-energy threshold; p-type point contact germanium detector; thermal model;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9499

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TNS.2012.2224669

Filename

6407475