Eur. Phys. J. A (2020) 56: 38
https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/s10050-020-00050-x

Special Article - New Tools and Techniques

Production and characterisation of a cryogenic detector from archaeological Pb

¹ INFN-Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, 67100, L’Aquila, Assergi, Italy
² Gran Sasso Science Institute, L’Aquila, 67100, Italy
³ INFN-Sezione di Milano-Bicocca, 20126, Milano, Italy
⁴ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA
⁵ Nikolaev Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, 630090, Novosibirsk, Russia
⁶ Novosibirsk State Tech University, 20 Karl Marx Prospect, 630092, Novosibirsk, Russia
⁷ CML Ltd., 630090, Novosibirsk, Russia
⁸ Present address: Queen’s University, Kingston, K7L 3N6, Canada

^* e-mail: luca.pattavina@lngs.infn.it

Received: 26 June 2019
Accepted: 11 December 2019
Published online: 5 February 2020

Abstract

We operated a scintillating cryogenic detector of 570 g, produced with archaeological lead. This compound features excellent low temperature characteristics in terms of light yield, 12 keV/MeV for interactions, and FWHM energy resolution, 11.7 keV at 2.6 MeV. Furthermore, the detector allows for an effective particle identification by means of pulse shape analysis on the heat read-out channel. The implementation of innovative techniques and procedures for the purification of raw materials used for the crystal growth, and the highly-pure archaeological Pb, allowed for the production of large volume high-quality crystal. The overall characteristics of the detector operated at cryogenic temperatures makes an excellent compound for neutrino physics applications, especially neutrinoless double-beta studies.