Measurement of the distribution of ^207Bi depositions on calibration sources for SuperNEMO

R. Arnold (1) , C. Augier (2) , A.S. Barabash , A. Basharina-Freshville , E. Birdsall , S. Blondel (2) , M. Bongrand (2) , D. Boursette (2) , R. Breier , V. Brudanin , J. Busto (3) , S. Calvez (2) , C. Cerna (4) , J.P. Cesar , M. Ceschia , A. Chapon (5) , E. Chauveau (4) , A. Chopra , L. Dawson , S. de Capua , D. Duchesneau (6) , D. Durand (5) , G. Eurin (2) , J.J. Evans , D. Filosofov , R. Flack , P. Franchini , C. Girard-Carillo (2) , H. Gómez (2) , B. Guillon (5) , P. Guzowski , M. Hoballah (2) , R. Hodák , M.H. Hussain , A. Jeremie (6) , S. Jullian (2) , J. Kaizer , A. Klimenko , O. Kochetov , S.I. Konovalov , V. Kovalenko , D. Lalanne (2) , K. Lang , Y. Lemière (5) , T. Le Noblet (6) , Z. Liptak (5) , X.R. Liu , P. Loaiza (2) , M. Macko , C. Macolino (2) , C. Marquet (4) , F. Mauger (5) , A. Minotti (6) , Y. Mora , B. Morgan , J. Mott , I. Nemchenok , M. Nomachi , F. Nova , F. Nowacki (1) , H. Ohsumi , G. Oliviéro (5) , R.B. Pahlka , V. Palušová (4) , C. Patrick , F. Perrot (4) , A. Pin (4) , F. Piquemal (4) , P. Povinec , M. Proga , W.S. Quinn , Y.A. Ramachers , A. Remoto (6) , J.L. Reyss (7) , R. Saakyan , A. Salamatin , R. Salazar , X. Sarazin (2) , J. Sedgbeer , Yu. Shitov , L. Simard (2, 8) , F. Šimkovic , A. Smolnikov , S. Söldner-Rembold , I. Štekl , J. Suhonen , C.S. Sutton , G. Szklarz (2) , H. Tedjditi (3) , J. Thomas , V. Timkin , S. Torre , Vl.I. Tretyak , V.I. Tretyak , V.I. Umatov , C. Vilela , V. Vorobel , D. Waters , F. Xie , J. Žemlička

1 IPHC - Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien
2 IJCLab - Laboratoire de Physique des 2 Infinis Irène Joliot-Curie
3 CPPM - Centre de Physique des Particules de Marseille
4 CENBG - Centre d'Etudes Nucléaires de Bordeaux Gradignan
5 LPCC - Laboratoire de physique corpusculaire de Caen
6 LAPP - Laboratoire d'Annecy de Physique des Particules
7 LSCE - Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement [Gif-sur-Yvette]
8 IUF - Institut universitaire de France

The SuperNEMO experiment will search for neutrinoless double-beta decay (0νββ), and study the Standard-Model double-beta decay process (2νββ). The SuperNEMO technology can measure the energy of each of the electrons produced in a double-beta (ββ) decay, and can reconstruct the topology of their individual tracks. The study of the double-beta decay spectrum requires very accurate energy calibration to be carried out periodically. The SuperNEMO Demonstrator Module will be calibrated using 42 calibration sources, each consisting of a droplet of 207Bi within a frame assembly. The quality of these sources, which depends upon the entire ^207Bi droplet being contained within the frame, is key for correctly calibrating SuperNEMO's energy response. In this paper, we present a novel method for precisely measuring the exact geometry of the deposition of 207Bi droplets within the frames, using Timepix pixel detectors. We studied 49 different sources and selected 42 high-quality sources with the most central source positioning.

Keywords: energy: calibration; double-beta decay: (0neutrino); detector: pixel; Neutrino Ettore Majorana Observatory; droplet; topology; data analysis method; experimental results

Domains: Instrumentation and Detectors [physics.ins-det]

R. Arnold, C. Augier, A.S. Barabash, A. Basharina-Freshville, E. Birdsall, et al.. Measurement of the distribution of ^207Bi depositions on calibration sources for SuperNEMO. JINST, 2021, 16 (07), pp.T07012. ⟨10.1088/1748-0221/16/07/T07012⟩. ⟨hal-03197532⟩