Work

Enhanced sensitivity to trace U 238 impurity of sapphire via coincidence neutron activation analysis

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Sapphire has mechanical and electrical properties that are advantageous for the construction of internal components of radiation detectors such as time projection chambers and bolometers. However, it has proved difficult to assess its $\rm ^{232}Th$ and $\rm ^{238}U$ content down to the picogram per gram level. This work reports an experimental verification of a computational study that demonstrates $γγ$ coincidence counting, coupled with neutron activation analysis (NAA), can reach ppt sensitivities. Combining results from $γγ$ coincidence counting with those of earlier single-$γ$ counting based NAA shows that a sample of Saint Gobain sapphire has $\rm ^{232}Th$ and $\rm ^{238}U$ concentrations of $<0.26$ ppt and $<2.3$ ppt, respectively; the best constraints on the radiopurity of sapphire.

Source: Physical Review C

DOI: 10.1103/zgzm-w5f4

Authors: D. Chernyak, I. J. Arnquist, T. Daniels, S. W. Finch, L. Hissong, M. Hughes, R. MacLellan, A. Piepke, A. Pocar, R. Roshong, R. Saldanha, R. H. M. Tsang

Institutions: University of Alabama, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Duke University, Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory, University of Kentucky, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Language: English

Topic: Nuclear Physics and Applications

Subfield: Radiation

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, High Energy Physics, Laboratory Directed Research and Development, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Awards: G125460123, G1554695612, LOW ENERGY NEUTRINO PHYSICS, nEXO: a Search for Neutrino-less Double Beta Decay with a Tonne-Scale Enriched Xenon Time Projection Chamber, RESEARCH IN ELEMENTARY PARTICLE PHYSICS, STUDIES OF NUCLEAR STRUCTURE USING NEUTRONS AND CHARGED PARTICLES, NEUTRINOLESS DOUBLE-BETA DECAY OF 136XE AND RELATED NUCLEAR STRUCTURE STUDIES

OpenAlex ID: W4417267459

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