Results of the BiPo-1 prototype for radiopurity measurements for the SuperNEMO double beta decay source foils

J. Argyriades (1) , R. Arnold (2) , C. Augier (1, 3) , J. Baker , A. S. Barabash , A. Basharina-Freshville , M. Bongrand (1) , C. Bourgeois (1) , D. Breton (1) , M. Briére (1) , G. Broudin-Bay (1) , V. B. Brudanin , A. J. Caffrey , S. Cebrián , A. Chapon (4) , E. Chauveau (5) , Th. Dafni , J. Diaz (6) , D. Dominique Durand (4) , V. G. Egorov , J. J. Evans , R. Flack , K-I. Fushima , I. G. Irastorza , X. Garrido (1) , H. Gómez , B. Guillon (4) , A. Holin , K Holy , J. J. Horkey , P. Hubert (5) , C. Hugon (5) , F. J. Iguaz , N. Ishihara , C. M. Jackson , S. Jenzer (1) , Sophie Jullian (1) , M. Kauer , O. I. Kochetov , S. I. Konovalov , V. V. Kovalenko (2) , T. Lamhamdi , K. Lang , Y. Lemière (4) , G. Lutter (5) , G. Luzón , F. Mamedov , Ch. Marquet (5) , F. Mauger (4) , F. Monrabal (6) , A. Nachab (5) , I. B. Nemchenok , C. H. Nguyen (5) , M. Nomachi , F. Nova , H. Ohsumi , R. B. Pahlka , F. Perrot (5) , F. Piquemal (5) , P. P. Povinec , B. Richards , J. S. Ricol (5) , C. L. Riddle , A. Rodríguez , R. Saakyan , X. Sarazin (1) , J. K. Sedgbeer , L. Serra (6) , Yu. A. Shitov , L. Simard (1) , F. Šimkovic , S. Söldner-Rembold , I. Štekl , C. S. Sutton , Y. Tamagawa , G. Szklarz (1) , J. Thomas , V. Timkin , V. Tretyak , Vl. I. Tretyak , V. I. Umatov , L. Vála , I. A. Vanyushin , R. Vasiliev , V. A. Vasiliev , V. Vorobel , D. Waters , N. Yahali (6) , A. Žukauskas , J. Hommet (4)

1 LAL - Laboratoire de l'Accélérateur Linéaire
2 IPHC - Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien
3 IPNL - Institut de Physique Nucléaire de Lyon
4 LPCC - Laboratoire de physique corpusculaire de Caen
5 CENBG - Centre d'Etudes Nucléaires de Bordeaux Gradignan
6 IFIC - Instituto de Fisica Corpuscular

The development of BiPo detectors is dedicated to the measurement of extremely high radiopurity in $^{208}$Tl and $^{214}$Bi for the SuperNEMO double beta decay source foils. A modular prototype, called BiPo-1, with 0.8 $m^2$ of sensitive surface area, has been running in the Modane Underground Laboratory since February, 2008. The goal of BiPo-1 is to measure the different components of the background and in particular the surface radiopurity of the plastic scintillators that make up the detector. The first phase of data collection has been dedicated to the measurement of the radiopurity in $^{208}$Tl. After more than one year of background measurement, a surface activity of the scintillators of $\mathcal{A}$($^{208}$Tl) $=$ 1.5 $\mu$Bq/m$^2$ is reported here. Given this level of background, a larger BiPo detector having 12 m$^2$ of active surface area, is able to qualify the radiopurity of the SuperNEMO selenium double beta decay foils with the required sensitivity of $\mathcal{A}$($^{208}$Tl) $<$ 2 $\mu$Bq/kg (90% C.L.) with a six month measurement.

Mots clés: Double beta decay; NEMO-3; SuperNEMO; BiPo; Majorana neutrino; Radiopurity

Domaines: Physique des Hautes Energies - Expérience [hep-ex]; Instrumentations et Détecteurs [physics.ins-det]

J. Argyriades, R. Arnold, C. Augier, J. Baker, A. S. Barabash, et al.. Results of the BiPo-1 prototype for radiopurity measurements for the SuperNEMO double beta decay source foils. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, 2010, 622, pp.120-128. ⟨10.1016/j.nima.2010.07.037⟩. ⟨in2p3-00506430⟩