First operation of poly(ethylene naphthalate) enclosures for high-purity germanium detectors in liquid argon for $^{42}$K/$^{42}$Ar mitigation

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Vogl, Christoph, Comellato, Tommaso, Gusev, Konstantin, Hackett, Brennan, Krause, Patrick, Leonhardt, Andreas, Majorovits, Bela, Lay, Niko N. P. N., Neuberger, Moritz, Rumyantseva, Nadezda, Schwarz, Mario, Willers, Michael, Schönert, Stefan
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
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author Vogl, Christoph
Comellato, Tommaso
Gusev, Konstantin
Hackett, Brennan
Krause, Patrick
Leonhardt, Andreas
Majorovits, Bela
Lay, Niko N. P. N.
Neuberger, Moritz
Rumyantseva, Nadezda
Schwarz, Mario
Willers, Michael
Schönert, Stefan
author_facet Vogl, Christoph
Comellato, Tommaso
Gusev, Konstantin
Hackett, Brennan
Krause, Patrick
Leonhardt, Andreas
Majorovits, Bela
Lay, Niko N. P. N.
Neuberger, Moritz
Rumyantseva, Nadezda
Schwarz, Mario
Willers, Michael
Schönert, Stefan
contents Commercial argon contains cosmogenic $^{42}$Ar whose progeny $^{42}$K is a critical background component for the Large Enriched Germanium Experiment for Neutrinoless $ββ$ Decay (LEGEND). LEGEND operates High-Purity Germanium (HPGe) detectors bare in liquid argon. $^{42}$K is attracted by the HPGe detectors' electric fields, and drifts toward the germanium surface, where it undergoes beta decay. LEGEND-1000 will mitigate $^{42}$K-induced background by using underground-sourced argon, depleted in cosmogenic isotopes. If underground argon is not available, mitigation techniques must be employed. Poly(ethylene naphthalate) (PEN) enclosures were proposed to hinder the ion drift, decrease the beta-particle's energy, and produce scintillation light. In this paper, we report on operating two HPGe detectors, both bare and PEN-enclosed, in $^{42}$Ar-enriched liquid argon, and find no evidence for deterioration of energy stability or resolution due to the enclosures. We monitor the beta and gamma rates of $^{42}$K, find complex time-dependencies extending to roughly 30 days after applying the HPGe detectors' high-voltage, and qualitatively demonstrate the $^{42}$K suppression capabilities of enclosures.
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id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_17324
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle First operation of poly(ethylene naphthalate) enclosures for high-purity germanium detectors in liquid argon for $^{42}$K/$^{42}$Ar mitigation
Vogl, Christoph
Comellato, Tommaso
Gusev, Konstantin
Hackett, Brennan
Krause, Patrick
Leonhardt, Andreas
Majorovits, Bela
Lay, Niko N. P. N.
Neuberger, Moritz
Rumyantseva, Nadezda
Schwarz, Mario
Willers, Michael
Schönert, Stefan
Instrumentation and Detectors
Commercial argon contains cosmogenic $^{42}$Ar whose progeny $^{42}$K is a critical background component for the Large Enriched Germanium Experiment for Neutrinoless $ββ$ Decay (LEGEND). LEGEND operates High-Purity Germanium (HPGe) detectors bare in liquid argon. $^{42}$K is attracted by the HPGe detectors' electric fields, and drifts toward the germanium surface, where it undergoes beta decay. LEGEND-1000 will mitigate $^{42}$K-induced background by using underground-sourced argon, depleted in cosmogenic isotopes. If underground argon is not available, mitigation techniques must be employed. Poly(ethylene naphthalate) (PEN) enclosures were proposed to hinder the ion drift, decrease the beta-particle's energy, and produce scintillation light. In this paper, we report on operating two HPGe detectors, both bare and PEN-enclosed, in $^{42}$Ar-enriched liquid argon, and find no evidence for deterioration of energy stability or resolution due to the enclosures. We monitor the beta and gamma rates of $^{42}$K, find complex time-dependencies extending to roughly 30 days after applying the HPGe detectors' high-voltage, and qualitatively demonstrate the $^{42}$K suppression capabilities of enclosures.
title First operation of poly(ethylene naphthalate) enclosures for high-purity germanium detectors in liquid argon for $^{42}$K/$^{42}$Ar mitigation
topic Instrumentation and Detectors
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.17324