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Measurements of \(\hbox {ZnWO}_4\) anisotropic response to nuclear recoils for the ADAMO project

  • Special Article – New Tools and Techniques
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Abstract

Anisotropic scintillators can offer a unique possibility to exploit the so-called directionality approach in order to investigate the presence of those Dark Matter (DM) candidates inducing nuclear recoils. In fact, their use can overcome the difficulty of detecting extremely short nuclear recoil traces. In this paper we present recent measurements performed on the anisotropic response of a \(\hbox {ZnWO}_4\) crystal scintillator to nuclear recoils, in the framework of the ADAMO project. The anisotropic features of the \(\hbox {ZnWO}_4\) crystal scintillators were initially measured with \(\alpha \) particles; those results have been also confirmed by the additional measurements presented here. The experimental nuclear recoil data were obtained by using a neutron generator at ENEA-CASACCIA and neutron detectors to tag the scattered neutrons; in particular, the quenching factor values for nuclear recoils along different crystallographic axes have been determined for three different neutron scattering angles (i.e. nuclear recoils energies). From these measurements, the anisotropy of the light response for nuclear recoils in the \(\hbox {ZnWO}_4\) crystal scintillator has been determined at 5.4 standard deviations.

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Data Availability Statement

This manuscript has no associated data or the data will not be deposited. [Authors’ comment: All the data generated during this study are contained in this published article.]

Notes

  1. The etching procedure was applied to remove possible surface radioactive contamination of 3 samples of \(\hbox {ZnWO}_4\) scintillators, including the one used in the present study. Two other samples of larger mass, produced from the same crystal boule, were installed in a low-background set-up to investigate radioactive contamination of the material. The measurements are similar to those described in Ref. [15].

  2. The quenching factor Q.F. describes the response of a scintillator to heavy ionizing particles; in details, it is the ratio between the detected energy in the energy scale measured with \(\gamma \) sources to the energy of the heavy ionizing particle.

  3. Many times it is also named \(\alpha /\beta \) ratio.

  4. The typical live time for each data set ranges from 11 to 25 h depending on the scattering angle and crystal axis.

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Acknowledgements

It is a pleasure to thank Mr. A. Bussolotti and Mr. A. Mattei for their valuable technical support and Dr. M. Laubenstein for providing the silicon detector and for fruitful discussions. The group from the Institute for Nuclear Research was supported in part by the program of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine “Fundamental research on high-energy physics and nuclear physics (international cooperation)” (Grant no. 0118U005411). D.V.K. and O.G.P. were supported in part by the project “Investigations of rare nuclear processes” of the program of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine “Laboratory of young scientists” (Grant no. 0118U002328).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. INFN sezione Roma “Tor Vergata”, 00133, Rome, Italy

    P. Belli, R. Bernabei, V. Caracciolo, R. Cerulli & V. Merlo

  2. Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Roma “Tor Vergata”, 00133, Rome, Italy

    P. Belli, R. Bernabei, V. Caracciolo, R. Cerulli & V. Merlo

  3. INFN sezione Roma, 00185, Rome, Italy

    F. Cappella & A. Incicchitti

  4. Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, 00185, Rome, Italy

    F. Cappella & A. Incicchitti

  5. INFN, Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, 67100, Assergi, AQ, Italy

    V. Caracciolo

  6. ENEA, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, C.R. Casaccia, 00123, Rome, Italy

    N. Cherubini & E. Piccinelli

  7. Institute for Nuclear Research of NASU, Kyiv, 03028, Ukraine

    F. A. Danevich, D. V. Kasperovych, O. G. Polischuk & V. I. Tretyak

Authors
  1. P. Belli
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  2. R. Bernabei
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  3. F. Cappella
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  4. V. Caracciolo
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  5. R. Cerulli
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  6. N. Cherubini
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  7. F. A. Danevich
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  8. A. Incicchitti
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  9. D. V. Kasperovych
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  10. V. Merlo
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  11. E. Piccinelli
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  12. O. G. Polischuk
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  13. V. I. Tretyak
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to R. Bernabei.

Additional information

Communicated by Alessia Di Pietro.

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Belli, P., Bernabei, R., Cappella, F. et al. Measurements of \(\hbox {ZnWO}_4\) anisotropic response to nuclear recoils for the ADAMO project. Eur. Phys. J. A 56, 83 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/s10050-020-00094-z

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