Scintillating bolometers based on ZnMoO$_4$ and Zn$^{100}$MoO$_4$ crystals to search for 0$ν$2$β$ decay of $^{100}$Mo (LUMINEU project): first tests at the Modane Underground Laboratory
physics.ins-det
/ Authors
D. V. Poda, E. Armengaud, Q. Arnaud, C. Augier, A. Benoît, A. Benoît, L. Bergé, R. S. Boiko, T. Bergmann, J. Blümer
and 84 more authors
A. Broniatowski, V. Brudanin, P. Camus, A. Cazes, B. Censier, M. Chapellier, F. Charlieux, D. M. Chernyak, N. Coron, P. Coulter, G. A. Cox, F. A. Danevich, T. de Boissière, R. Decourt, M. De Jesus, L. Devoyon, A. -A. Drillien, L. Dumoulin, K. Eitel, C. Enss, D. Filosofov, A. Fleischmann, N. Fourches, J. Gascon
/ Abstract
The technology of scintillating bolometers based on zinc molybdate (ZnMoO$_4$) crystals is under development within the LUMINEU project to search for 0$ν$2$β$ decay of $^{100}$Mo with the goal to set the basis for large scale experiments capable to explore the inverted hierarchy region of the neutrino mass pattern. Advanced ZnMoO$_4$ crystal scintillators with mass of $\sim$~0.3 kg were developed and Zn$^{100}$MoO$_4$ crystal from enriched $^{100}$Mo was produced for the first time by using the low-thermal-gradient Czochralski technique. One ZnMoO$_4$ scintillator and two samples (59 g and 63 g) cut from the enriched boule were tested aboveground at milli-Kelvin temperature as scintillating bolometers showing a high detection performance. The first results of the low background measurements with three ZnMoO$_4$ and two enriched detectors installed in the EDELWEISS set-up at the Modane Underground Laboratory (France) are presented.