Heat and light detection using scintillating crystals for rare process experiments
by
216-1호
제1과학관
It is advantageous to use scintillating crystals as a main target material of low-temperature calorimeters in rare process experiments. Because most of energy absorption in an absorber crystal results in temperature increase of the absorber into form of phonons in the crystal, heat measurement is an efficient way of particle detection. Particularly heat measurement at low temperatures can provide extreme energy resolution and threshold. In the usage of additional light detection together with heat measurement, scintillating crystals make it possible to use simultaneous detection of heat and light measurement channels. High energy resolution and low energy threshold can be realized by heat (phonon) detection. The relative amplitude between the heat (phonon) and light (photon) signals can provide a powerful event separation tool.
For these reasons the development of the simultaneous detector system of heat and light signals has been highly motivated to survey scintillating crystal candidates. Many scintillating crystals have unique scintillation properties and phonon properties. We developed a compact detection system to investigate various crystals. It is designed to measure heat and light signals from a 1 cm3 crystal with readout via metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMCs) and the crystal is easily replaceable for an effective search of crystal candidates. A light detector is constructed, similarly, with a thin square Ge wafer in 1.5 x 1.5 x 0.05 cm3. In this thesis, the result of a Nb-doped CaMoO4 scintillating crystal will be discussed.
Thesis Advisor: Prof. Hongjoo Kim