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T: Fachverband Teilchenphysik

T 91: Experimentelle Methoden der Astroteilchenphysik IV

T 91.4: Talk

Thursday, March 22, 2018, 17:15–17:30, Z6 - SR 2.011

Radon mitigation for rare-event searches using surface treatments — •Guillaume Eurin, Hardy Simgen, and Florian Joerg — Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg, Germany

In the current state of rare event searches such as direct dark matter detection with the XENON1T detector, radon is a dominating background source. Present in the natural radioactivity decay chains of ²³⁸U and ²³²Th, it is a noble gas that can be emanated from any detector material.

Several strategies have been adopted by low-background experiments in astro-particle physics to tackle this issue. Materials are screened and selected for radio-purity, detector manufacturing is tightly controlled and surface cleaning techniques are explored. A novel solution could be the coating of the surface of materials emanating radon with a thin metallic layer to reduce radon emanation. Investigations have been carried out with industrial partners in order to quantify this reduction and compatibility tests with the operation of a liquid noble gas time projection chamber will be demonstrated in a dedicated setup.

This talk will highlight the promising results already obtained and potential leads for future improvement.