Scintillating bolometers based on ZnMoO4 crystals to search for neutrinoless double beta decay

by Andrea Giuliani (CNRS, Orsay)

Monday 22 Apr 2013, 14:00 → 15:00 Europe/Berlin

Seminar room, basement (Universe)

ZnMoO4 scintillating bolometers represent an outstanding technique for the search for neutrinoless double beta decay of the promising isotope 100Mo. In principle, they can provide practically zero background over an exposure of the order of 1 ton x year, thanks to their capability to reject alpha events. In practice, preliminary results obtained with natural crystals with masses of the order of 300 g show that the internal contamination of the crystals is compatible with this background level estimation. A phased-approach experiment based on this technology is in preparation. The first step, which will be accomplished in the framework of the LUMINEU project, consists in a pilot experiment involving 1 kg of enriched material. This search will be performed in the Modane Underground Laboratory in France. The second step can use existing 10 kg of 100Mo isotope, reaching a sensitivity at the level of the best experiments presently running or in preparation. An ambitious final set-up aims at a sensitive mass of several hundreds of kg, with the potential to explore the inverted hierarchy region of the neutrino mass pattern.