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Screener3D: a gaseous time projection chamber for ultra-low radioactive material screening

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Abstract

In experiments searching for rare signals, background events from the detector itself are some of the major factors limiting search sensitivity. Screening for ultra-low radioactive detector materials is becoming ever more essential. We propose to develop a gaseous time projection chamber (TPC) with a Micromegas readout for radio screening. The TPC records three-dimensional trajectories of charged particles emitted from a flat sample placed in the active volume of the detector. The detector can distinguish the origin of an event and identify the particle types with information from trajectories, which significantly increases the screening sensitivity. For α particles from the sample surface, we observe that our proposed detector can reach a sensitivity higher than 100 μ Bq m−2 within two days.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. INPAC, Shanghai Laboratory for Particle Physics and Cosmology, Key Laboratory for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (MOE), School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Hai-Yan Du, Karl Giboni, Ke Han, Yue Meng, Shao-Bo Wang, Tao Zhang & Li Zhao

  2. Yalong River Hydropower Development Company, Ltd., 288 Shuanglin Road, Chengdu, 610051, China

    Cheng-Bo Du, Sheng-Ming He, Li-Qiang Liu & Ji-Fang Zhou

  3. SJTU-ParisTech Elite Institute of Technology (SPEIT), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Shao-Bo Wang

Authors
  1. Hai-Yan Du
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  2. Cheng-Bo Du
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  4. Ke Han
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  9. Tao Zhang
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  10. Li Zhao
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  11. Ji-Fang Zhou
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Hai-Yan Du and Ke Han. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Hai-Yan Du and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ke Han.

Additional information

This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (No. 2016YFA0400302), the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China (Nos. 11775142 and U1965201), and the Chinese Academy of Sciences Center for Excellence in Particle Physics (CCEPP).

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Du, HY., Du, CB., Giboni, K. et al. Screener3D: a gaseous time projection chamber for ultra-low radioactive material screening. NUCL SCI TECH 32, 142 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41365-021-00983-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41365-021-00983-y

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