Search

The determination of the absolute mass scale of neutrinos is one of the most important challenges in Particle Physics. The shape of the endpoint region of $\beta$-decay and electron capture (EC) spectra depends on the phase space factor, which, in turn, is function of the neutrino mass eigenstates. High energy resolution and high statistics measurements of $\beta$- and EC spectra are therefore considered a model-independent way for the determination of the neutrino mass scale. Since almost four decades, low temperature microcalorimeters are used for the measurement of low energy $\beta$- and EC spectra. The first efforts were focused on the development of large arrays for the measurement of the $^{187}$Re $\beta$-spectrum. In the last ten years, the attention moved to EC of $^{163}$Ho. This choice was mainly motivated by the very good performance which could be achieved with low temperature microcalorimeters enclosing $^{163}$Ho with respect to microcalorimeters with absorber containing $^{187}$Re. The development of low temperature microcalorimeters for the measurement of the finite neutrino mass is discussed and, in particular, the reasons for moving from $^{187}$Re to $^{163}$Ho. The possibility to reach sub-eV sensitivity on the effective electron neutrino mass with $^{163}$Ho, thanks to the multiplexing of large microcalorimeter arrays is demonstrated. In conclusion, an overview on other nuclides which have been proposed as good candidates, motivated by the excellent performance of low temperature microcalorimeters is presented., Comment: Contribution to the Proceedings of the conference "19th International Workshop on Low Temperature Detectors (LTD19)"

Using dilute silver erbium alloys as a paramagnetic temperature sensor in metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMCs) has the advantage of the host material not having a nuclear quadrupole moment, in contrast to the alternative of using gold erbium alloys. We present numerical calculations of the specific heat and magnetization of Ag:Er, which are necessary for designing and optimizing MMCs using this type of alloy as sensor material. The parameter ranges we consider are temperatures between $$1\,{\text {{mK}}}$$ 1 mK and $$1\,{\text {{K}}}$$ 1 K , external magnetic fields of up to $$20\,{\text {{mT}}}$$ 20 mT , and erbium concentrations of up to $$2000\,{\text {{ppm}}}$$ 2000 ppm . The system is dominated by an interplay of crystal field effects, Zeeman splitting, and the RKKY interaction between erbium ions, with certain specific constellations of erbium ions having noticeable effects on the specific heat. Increasing the external magnetic field or assuming a decreased strength of the RKKY interaction leads to a higher magnetization and a narrowing of the main Schottky peak, while changes in the erbium concentration can be well described by parameter scaling.

To reach ultra-low detection thresholds necessary to probe unprecedentedly low Dark Matter masses, target material alternatives and novel detector designs are essential. One such target material is superfluid $^4$He which has the potential to probe so far uncharted light Dark Matter parameter space at sub-GeV masses. The new ``Direct search Experiment for Light dark matter'', DELight, will be using superfluid helium as active target, instrumented with magnetic micro-calorimeters. It is being designed to reach sensitivity to masses well below 100\,MeV in Dark Matter-nucleus scattering interactions., Comment: IDM2022 proceedings submitted to SciPost

Plenary Talk from Neutrino 2022

The European Physical Society Conference on High Energy Physics, Online conference, jointly organized by Universität Hamburg and the research center DESY; he European Physical Society Conference on High Energy Physics (EPS-HEP2021) 398, 4 pp. (2022). doi:10.22323/1.398.0211, Published by Sissa Medialab Trieste, Italy

For above ground particle physics experiments, cosmic muons are common source of background, not only for direct detector hits, but also for secondary radiation created in neighboring materials. The ECHo experiment has been designed for the determination of the effective electron neutrino mass by the analysis of the endpoint region of the $$^{163}\text {Ho}$$ 163 Ho electron capture spectrum. The fraction of events occurring in the region of interest of 10 eV below the $$Q_{\mathrm {EC}}$$ Q EC value of about 2.8 keV is only of the order of $$10^{-9}$$ 10 - 9 . This means that the background in that region need to be studied, characterized and methods to suppress it need to be developed. We expect a major background contribution to be due to cosmic muons and radiation produced by muons traveling through material around the detectors. To determine the muon-related background in metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMCs) used in the ECHo experiment, we have performed an experiment in which a muon veto was installed around the cryostat used for the operation of the detectors. We analysed the acquired events to investigate the pulse shape of MMC events in coincidence with the muon veto and the rate of multiple coincidences among detector array pixels. With different methods used for identification of muon related events, we studied events generated by muons and secondary radiation depositing energy in the substrate close to the ECHo pixels. In addition, energy depositions of muons and secondary radiation in the detectors was studied via Monte Carlo simulation. At the present status of investigation, we conclude that muon related events will be a negligible background in the region of interest of the $$^{163}\text {Ho}$$ 163 Ho spectrum.

We present a measurement of the low-energy (0-60 keV) γ-ray spectrum produced in the α decay of ^{233}U using a dedicated cryogenic magnetic microcalorimeter. The energy resolution of ∼10 eV, together with exceptional gain linearity, allows us to determine the energy of the low-lying isomeric state in ^{229}Th using four complementary evaluation schemes. The most precise scheme determines the ^{229}Th isomer energy to be 8.10(17) eV, corresponding to 153.1(32) nm, superseding in precision previous values based on γ spectroscopy, and agreeing with a recent measurement based on internal conversion electrons. We also measure branching ratios of the relevant excited states to be b_{29}=9.3(6)% and b_{42}

Axions are a natural consequence of the Peccei-Quinn mechanism, the most compelling solution to the strong-CP problem. Similar axion-like particles (ALPs) also appear in a number of possible extensions of the Standard Model, notably in string theories. Both axions and ALPs are very well motivated candidates for Dark Matter, and in addition, they would be copiously produced at the sun's core. A relevant effort during the last decade has been the CAST experiment at CERN, the most sensitive axion helioscope to-date. The International Axion Observatory (IAXO) is a large-scale 4th generation helioscope. As its primary physics goal, IAXO will look for solar axions or ALPs with a signal to background ratio of about 5 orders of magnitude higher than CAST. Recently the IAXO collaboration has proposed and intermediate experimental stage, BabyIAXO, conceived to test all IAXO subsystems (magnet, optics, detectors and sun-tracking systems) at a relevant scale for the final system and thus serve as pathfinder for IAXO but at the same time as a fully-fledged helioscope with record and relevant physics reach in itself with potential for discovery. BabyIAXO was endorsed by the Physics Review committee of DESY last May 2019. Here we will review the status and prospects of BabyIAXO and its potential to probe the most physics motivated regions of the axion & ALPs parameter space., 6 pages, ICHEP 2020 Virtual conference

The goal for the ECHo experiment is the determination of the effective electron neutrino mass by analyzing the electron capture (EC) spectrum of $^{163}$Ho. Metallic magnetic calorimeters enclosing $^{163}$Ho, achieved very good performance to conduct such an experiment. During the first phase of the experiment, ECHo-1k, the detector production and the implantation process of high purity $^{163}$Ho have been optimized. Large detector arrays have been developed, featuring energy resolution below 5eV and activity of about 1Bq per pixel. High statistics and high resolution $^{163}$Ho spectra have been acquired and analyzed in light of new theoretical description of the spectral shape, considering the independently determined Q$_{\mathrm{EC}}$-value, and a dedicated background model. In this contribution, we present preliminary results obtained in the first phase of ECHo. At the same time, we discuss the necessary upgrades towards the second phase of the experiment, ECHo-100k.

The specific heat of dilute alloys of holmium in gold and in silver plays a major role in the optimization of low temperature microcalorimeters with enclosed $^{163}\textrm{Ho}$, such as the ones developed for the neutrino mass experiment ECHo. We investigate alloys with atomic concentrations of $x_\textrm{Ho}=0.01\,\% - 4\,\%$ at temperatures between $10\,\textrm{mK}$ and $800\,\textrm{mK}$. Due to the large total angular momentum $J=8$ and nuclear spin $I=7/2$ of $\textrm{Ho}^{3+}$ ions, the specific heat of $\underline{\textrm{Au}}\textrm{:Ho}$ and $\underline{\textrm{Ag}}\textrm{:Ho}$ depends on the detailed interplay of various interactions, including contributions from the localized 4f electrons and nuclear contributions via hyperfine splitting. This makes it difficult to accurately determine the specific heat of these materials numerically. Instead, we measure their specific heat by using three experimental set-ups optimized for different concentration and temperature ranges. The results from measurements on six holmium alloys demonstrate that the specific heat of these materials is dominated by a large Schottky anomaly with its maximum at $T\approx 250\,\textrm{mK}$, which we attribute to hyperfine splitting and crystal field interactions. RKKY and dipole-dipole interactions between the holmium atoms cause additional, concentration-dependent effects. With regard to ECHo, we conclude that for typical operating temperatures of $T\leq 20\,\textrm{mK}$, silver holmium alloys with $x_\textrm{Ho}\gtrsim 1\,\%$ are suited best., 15 pages, 4 figures. Replacement with small modifications after peer-review, no change to scientific content

The European physical journal / C Particles and fields C 79(12), 1026 (2019). doi:10.1140/epjc/s10052-019-7513-x, Published by Springer, Heidelberg

Precise nuclear data from radioactive decays are important for the accurate non-destructive assay of fissile materials in nuclear safeguards. We are developing high energy resolution gamma detectors based on metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMCs) to accurately measure gamma-ray energies and branching ratios of uranium isotopes. Our MMC gamma detectors exhibit good linearity, reproducibility and a consistent response function for low energy gamma-rays. We illustrate the capabilities of MMCs to improve literature values of nuclear data with an analysis of gamma spectra of U-233. In this context, we also improve the value of the energy for the single gamma-ray of the U-233 daughter Ra-225 by over an order of magnitude from 40.09 ± 0.05 to 40.0932 ± 0.0007 keV.

Metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMCs) are calorimetric low-temperature particle detectors that are currently strongly advancing the state of the art in energy-dispersive single particle detection. They are typically operated at temperatures below $$100\,\mathrm {mK}$$ and make use of a metallic, paramagnetic temperature sensor to transduce the temperature rise of the detector upon the absorption of an energetic particle into a change of magnetic flux which is sensed by a superconducting quantum interference device. This outstanding interplay between a high-sensitivity thermometer and a near quantum-limited amplifier results in a very fast signal rise time, an excellent energy resolution, a large dynamic range, a quantum efficiency close to 100% as well as an almost ideal linear detector response. For this reason, a growing number of groups located all over the world is developing MMC arrays of various sizes which are routinely used in a variety of applications. Within this paper, we briefly review the state of the art of metallic magnetic calorimeters. This includes a discussion of the detection principle, sensor materials and detector geometries, readout concepts, the structure of modern detectors as well as the state-of-the-art detector performance.

Several experiments on the study of the electron neutrino mass are based on high-statistics measurements of the energy spectrum following electron capture of the radionuclide 163Ho. They rely on the availability of large, radiochemically pure samples of 163Ho. Here, we describe the production, separation, characterization, and sample production within the Electron Capture in Holmium-163 (ECHo) project. 163Ho has been produced by thermal neutron activation of enriched, prepurified 162Er targets in the high flux reactor of the Institut Laue-Langevin, Grenoble, France, in irradiations lasting up to 54 days. Irradiated targets were chemically processed by means of extraction chromatography, which allowed separating the formed Ho from the 162Er target-material and from the main byproducts 170Tm and 171Tm, which are co-produced in GBq amounts. Decontamination factors of >500 for Er and of >105 for Tm and yields of 3.6·1016 and 1.2·1018 atoms of 163Ho were obtained, corresponding to a recovery yield of 95 % of Ho in the chemical separation. The Ho-fraction was characterized by means of γ-ray spectrometry, Inductively-Coupled-Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS), Resonance Ionization Mass Spectrometry (RIMS) and Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA). In this process, the thermal neutron capture cross section of 163Ho was measured to σHo-163 to Ho-164m= (23±3) b and σHo-163 to Ho-164g= (156±9) b for the formation of the two isomers of 164Ho. Specific samples were produced for further purification by mass separation to isolate 163Ho from the Ho-isotope mixture, as needed for obtaining the energy spectrum within ECHo. The partial efficiency for this second separation step is (32±5) %.

Several novel experiments designed to investigate the electron neutrino mass in the sub-eV region are based on the calorimetric measurement of the 163Ho electron capture spectrum. For this the 163Ho source, with a required activity of the order of 1 to 100 Bq , needs to be enclosed in the detector, having a volume smaller than 10 − 3 mm 3 . Ion implantation is presently considered to be the most reliable method to enclose this source in the detector homogeneously distributed in a well defined volume. We have investigated the distribution of implanted holmium ions in different target materials and for different implantation energies by means of Monte Carlo simulations based on the SRIM software package. We show that, for a given implantation energy, a given target material and implantation area, the number of holmium ions that can be implanted in a single implantation run is limited. We discuss possible methods to overcome this saturation limit in order to fabricate detectors with an enclosed 163Ho source of the activity required by the experiments.

We present the design of MOCCA, a large-area particle detector that is developed for the position- and energy-resolving detection of neutral molecule fragments produced in electron–ion interactions at the Cryogenic Storage Ring at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg. The detector is based on metallic magnetic calorimeters and consists of 4096 particle absorbers covering a total detection area of $$44.8\,\mathrm {mm} \times 44.8\,\mathrm {mm}$$ . Groups of four absorbers are thermally coupled to a common paramagnetic temperature sensor where the strength of the thermal link is different for each absorber. This allows attributing a detector event within this group to the corresponding absorber by discriminating the signal rise times. A novel readout scheme further allows reading out all 1024 temperature sensors that are arranged in a $$32 \times 32$$ square array using only $$16+16$$ current-sensing superconducting quantum interference devices. Numerical calculations taking into account a simplified detector model predict an energy resolution of $$\Delta E_\mathrm {FWHM} \le 80\,\mathrm {eV}$$ for all pixels of this detector.

The determination of the electron neutrino mass by electron capture in $^{163}\mathrm{Ho}$ relies on a precise understanding of the deexcitation of a core hole after an electron-capture event. Here we present an ab initio calculation of the electron-capture spectrum of $^{163}\mathrm{Ho}$, i.e., the $^{163}\mathrm{Ho}$ decay rate as a function of the energy distribution between the $^{163}\mathrm{Dy}$ daughter atom and the neutrino. Our current level of theory includes all intra-atomic decay channels and many-body interactions on a basis of fully relativistic bound orbitals. We use theoretical methods developed and extensively used for the calculation of core level spectroscopy on correlated electron materials. Our comparison to experimental electron-capture data critically tests the accuracy of these theories. We find that relativistic interactions beyond the Dirac equation lead to only minor shifts of the spectral peaks. The electronic relaxation after an electron-capture event due to the modified nuclear potential leads to a mixing of different edges, but, due to conservation of angular momentum of each scattered electron, no additional structures emerge. Many-body Coulomb interactions lead to the formation of multiplets and to additional peaks corresponding to multiple core holes created via Auger decay. Multiplets crucially change the appearance of the resonances on a Rydberg energy scale. The additional structures due to Auger decay are, although clearly visible, relatively weak compared to the single core hole states and are incidentally far away from the end-point region of the spectrum. As the end point of the spectrum is affected most by the neutrino mass, these additional states do not directly influence the statistics for determining the neutrino mass. The multiplet broadening and Auger shake-up of the main core-level edges do, however, change the apparent linewidth and accompanying lifetime of these edges. Fitting core-level edges, either in electron-capture spectroscopy or in x-ray absorption spectroscopy, by a single resonance thus leads to an underestimation of the core hole lifetime.

Cryogenic high-resolution $$\gamma $$ -ray detectors can improve the accuracy of non-destructive assay (NDA) of nuclear materials in cases where conventional high-purity germanium detectors are limited by line overlap or by the Compton background. We have improved the performance of gamma detectors based on metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMCs) by separating the 0.5 $$\times $$ 2 $$\times $$ 0.25 mm $$^{3}$$ Au absorber from the Au:Er sensor with sixteen 30- $$\upmu $$ m-diameter Au posts. This ensures that the entire $$\gamma $$ -ray energy thermalizes in the absorber before heating the Au:Er sensor, and improves the energy resolution at 35 mK to as low as 90 eV FWHM at 60 keV. This energy resolution enables the direct detection of $$\gamma $$ -rays from Pu-242, an isotope that cannot be measured by traditional NDA and whose concentration is therefore inferred through correlations with other Pu isotopes. The Pu-242 concentration of 11.11 $$\pm $$ 0.42 % measured by NDA with MMCs agrees with mass spectrometry results and exceeds the accuracy of correlation measurements.

The isotope ^{163}Ho is in many ways the best candidate to perform experiments to investigate the value of the electron neutrino mass. It undergoes an electron capture process to ^{163}Dy with an energy available to the decay, Q_{EC}, of about 2.8 keV. According to the present knowledge, this is the lowest Q_{EC} value for such transitions. Here we discuss a newly obtained spectrum of ^{163}Ho, taken by cryogenic metallic magnetic calorimeters with ^{163}Ho implanted in the absorbers and operated in anticoincident mode for background reduction. For the first time, the atomic deexcitation of the ^{163}Dy daughter atom following the capture of electrons from the 5s shell in ^{163}Ho, the OI line, was observed with a calorimetric measurement. The peak energy is determined to be 48 eV. In addition, a precise determination of the energy available for the decay Q_{EC}=(2.858±0.010_{stat}±0.05_{syst}) keV was obtained by analyzing the intensities of the lines in the spectrum. This value is in good agreement with the measurement of the mass difference between ^{163}Ho and ^{163}Dy obtained by Penning-trap mass spectrometry, demonstrating the reliability of the calorimetric technique.

We report on the first demonstration of a scalable GHz frequency-domain readout of metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMCs) using a 64 pixel detector array that is read out by an integrated, on-chip microwave SQUID multiplexer. The detector array is optimized for detecting soft X-ray photons and the multiplexer is designed to provide a signal rise time τrise

The determination of the absolute scale of the neutrino masses is one of the most challenging present questions in particle physics. The most stringent limit, $$m(\bar{\nu }_{\mathrm {e}})< 2$$ eV, was achieved for the electron anti-neutrino mass. Different approaches are followed to reach a sensitivity on neutrino masses in the sub-eV range. Among them, experiments exploring the beta decay or electron capture of suitable nuclides can provide information on the electron neutrino mass value. We present the electron capture $$^{163}$$ Ho experiment ECHo, which aims to investigate the electron neutrino mass in the sub-eV range by means of the analysis of the calorimetrically measured energy spectrum following electron capture in $$^{163}$$ Ho. A high precision and high statistics spectrum will be measured with arrays of metallic magnetic calorimeters. We discuss some of the essential aspects of ECHo to reach the proposed sensitivity: detector optimization and performance, multiplexed readout, $$^{163}$$ Ho source production and purification, as well as a precise theoretical and experimental parameterization of the calorimetric EC spectrum including in particular the value of $$Q_{\mathrm {EC}}$$ . We present preliminary results obtained with a first prototype of single channel detectors as well as a first 64-pixel chip with integrated micro-wave SQUID multiplexer, which will already allow to investigate $$m(\nu _{\mathrm {e}})$$ in the eV range.

We have realized a frequency-domain multiplexing technique for the readout of large metallic magnetic calorimeter detector arrays. It is based on non-hysteretic single-junction SQUIDs and allows for a simultaneous readout of hundreds or thousands of detectors by using a single cryogenic high electron mobility transistor amplifier and two coaxial cables that are routed from room-temperature to the detector array. We discuss the working principle of the multiplexer and present details about our prototype multiplexer design. We show that fabricated devices are fully operational and that characteristic SQUID parameters such as the input sensitivity of the SQUID or the resonance frequency of the readout circuit can be predicted with confidence. Our best device so far has shown a magnetic flux white noise level of 1.4 m $${\Phi _0}/\sqrt{Hz}$$ which can in future be reduced by an optimization of the fabrication processes as well as an improved microwave readout system.

Metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMCs) are widely used for various experiments in fields ranging from atomic and nuclear physics to x-ray spectroscopy, laboratory astrophysics or material science. Whereas in previous experiments single pixel detectors or small arrays have been used, for future applications large arrays are needed. Therefore, suitable multiplexing techniques for MMC arrays are currently under development. A promising approach for the readout of large arrays is the microwave SQUID multiplexer that operates in the frequency domain and that employs non-hysteretic rf-SQUIDs to transduce the detector signals into a frequency shift of high $Q$ resonators which can be monitored by using standard microwave measurement techniques. In this paper we discuss the design and the expected performance of a recently developed and fabricated 64 pixel detector array with integrated microwave SQUID multiplexer. First experimental data were obtained characterizing dc-SQUIDs with virtually identical washer design., Comment: 6 pages, 3 Figures

Electron capture can determine the electron neutrino mass, while the beta decay of Tritium measures the electron antineutrino mass and the neutrinoless double beta decay observes the Majorana neutrino mass. Electron capture e. g. on 163Ho plus bound electron to 163Dy* plus neutrino can determine the electron neutrino mass from the upper end of the decay spectrum of the excited Dy*, which is given by the Q-Value minus the neutrino mass. The Dy* states decay by X-ray and Auger electron emissions. The total decay energy is measured in a bolometer. These excitations have been studied by Robertson and by Faessler et al.. In addition the daughter atom Dy can also be excited by moving in the capture process one electron into the continuum. The escape of these continuum electrons is automatically included in the experimental bolometer spectrum. Recently a method developed by Intemann and Pollock was used by DeRujula and Lusignoli for a rough estimate of this shake-off process for "s" wave electrons in capture on 163Ho. The purpose of the present work is to give a more reliable description of "s" wave shake-off in electron capture on Holmium. For that one needs very accurate atomic wave functions of Ho in its ground state and excited atomic wave functions of Dy* including a description of the continuum electrons. In the present approach the wave functions of Ho and Dy* are determined selfconsistently with the antisymmetrized relativistic Dirac-Hartree-Fock approach. The relativistic continuum electron wave functions for the ionized Dy* are obtained in the corresponding selfconsistent Dirac-Hartree-Fock-Potential. In this improved approach shake-off can hardly be seen after electron capture in 163Ho and thus can probably not affect the determination of the electron neutrino mass., 20 pages, 9 figures

The measurement of calorimetric spectra following atomic weak decays, beta (b) and electron capture (EC), of nuclides having a very low Q-value, can provide an impressively high sensitivity to a non-vanishing neutrino mass. The achievable sensitivity in this kind of experiments is directly connected to the performance of the used detectors. In particular an energy resolution of a few eV and a pulse formation time well below 1 microsecond are required. Low temperature Metallic Magnetic Calorimeters (MMCs) for soft X-rays have already shown an energy resolution of 2.0 eV FWHM and a pulse rise-time of about 90 ns for fully micro-fabricated detectors. We present the use of MMCs for high precision measurements of calorimetric spectra following the beta-decay of Re-187 and the EC of Ho-163. We show results obtained with detectors optimized for Re-187 and for Ho-163 experiments respectively. While the detectors equipped with superconducting Re absorbers have not yet reached the aimed performance, a first detector prototype with a Au absorber having implanted Ho-163 ions already shows excellent results. An energy resolution of 12 eV FWHM and a rise time of 90 ns were measured.

Highly-charged heavy ions like U91+ provide unique conditions for the investigation of relativistic and quantum electrodynamical effects in strong electromagnetic fields. We present two X-ray detectors developed for high-resolution spectroscopy on highly-charged heavy ions. Both detectors consist of metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMCs) forming linear eight-pixel arrays. The first detector, maXs-20, is developed for the detection of X-rays up to 20 keV with an energy resolution below 3 eV. The second device, maXs-200, is designed for X-ray energies up to 200 keV with an energy resolution of 40 eV. The results of characterization measurements of single detectors of both arrays will be shown and discussed. In both cases, the performance of the detectors agrees well with their design values. Furthermore, we present a prototype MMC for soft X-rays with improved magnetic flux coupling. In first characterization measurements the energy resolution of this device was 2.0 eV (FWHM) for X-rays up to 6 keV.

A still puzzling problem in the development of low temperature micro-calorimeters for the measurement of the 187rhenium β-spectrum is the understanding of the thermalization of energetic electrons in the superconducting rhenium absorber. We studied metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMC) with single crystal rhenium absorbers and paramagnetic Au:Er temperature sensors. The energy released into the detector leads to a change of magnetization of the paramagnetic sensor located in a weak magnetic field. A SQUID with meander shaped inductance is used to read out this change. This setup allows the study of several properties of the superconducting absorber. The transition to the superconducting state is studied by measuring the magnetic flux expelled by the rhenium sample. The resistivity of rhenium above Tc can be estimated from the measurement of the spectral power density of the Johnson noise. Furthermore the quasiparticle lifetime can be investigated through the analysis of the shape of detector signals caused by intrinsic β-decays and the absorption of X-rays. We present the data obtained in these experiments and discuss the physical quantities which can be derived from these.

In the last years metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMC) showed an energy resolution of a few eV for x-rays up to 10 keV. This makes MMCs a promising and powerful tool for many applications where photons or energetic massive particles have to be detected—like absolute activity measurements of radioactive isotopes, high resolution x-ray spectroscopy and x-ray fluorescence material analysis. However, in order to fulfill all requirements of these applications and to allow to reach the maximum resolving power a consequent micro-fabrication of the MMC detectors is needed. The micro-fabrication of metallic magnetic calorimeters requires reliable deposition and patterning processes for niobium structures with high critical currents and for paramagnetic sensors.

The atomic mass difference of (163)Ho and (163)Dy has been directly measured with the Penning-trap mass spectrometer SHIPTRAP applying the novel phase-imaging ion-cyclotron-resonance technique. Our measurement has solved the long-standing problem of large discrepancies in the Q value of the electron capture in (163)Ho determined by different techniques. Our measured mass difference shifts the current Q value of 2555(16) eV evaluated in the Atomic Mass Evaluation 2012 [G. Audi et al., Chin. Phys. C 36, 1157 (2012)] by more than 7σ to 2833(30(stat))(15(sys)) eV/c(2). With the new mass difference it will be possible, e.g., to reach in the first phase of the ECHo experiment a statistical sensitivity to the neutrino mass below 10 eV, which will reduce its present upper limit by more than an order of magnitude.

Future rare-event searches using scintillating crystals need very low background levels for high sensitivity; however, unresolved pile-up can limit this. We present the design and fabrication of large-area photon detectors based on metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMCs), optimized for fast rise times to resolve close pile-up. The first prototypes have been characterized using Fe-55 X-rays and ZnMoO $$_{4}$$ crystal scintillation light. A fast intrinsic rise time of 25–30 $$\upmu $$ s has been measured and has been compared to the 250 $$\upmu $$ s scintillation light pulse rise time constant. The difference indicates that the scintillation process limits the light pulse rise time. The fast rise time allows for a reduction of background due to close pile-up events as well as the study of the inherent crystal scintillation process. MMC-based photon detectors are shown to be a promising tool for scintillating crystal based rare event searches.

Ho to 163 Dy is probably due to the small Q value of about 2.5 keV the best case to determine the neutrino mass by electron capture. The energy of the Q value is distributed between the excitation of Dysprosium (and the neglected small recoil of Holmium) and the relativistic energy of the emitted neutrino including the rest mass. The reduction of the upper end of the deexcitation spectrum of Dysprosium below the Q value allows to determine the neutrino mass. The excitation of Dysprosium can be calculated in the sudden approximation of the overlap of the electron wave functions of Holmium minus the captured electron and one- , two-, three- and multiple hole- excitations in Dysprosium. Robertson (R. G. H. Robertson, Phys. Rev. C91, 035504 (2015) and arViv: 1411.2906) and Faessler and Simkovic (Amand Faessler, Fedor Simkovic, accepted for Phys. Rev. C, March 2015 and arXiv: 1501.04338) have calculated the influence of the two-hole states on the Dysprosium spectrum. Here for the first time the influence of the three-hole states on the deexcitation bolometer spectrum of 163 Dysprosium is presented. The electron wave functions and the overlaps are calculated selfconsistently in a fully relativistic and antisymmetrized Dirac- Hartree-Fock approach in Holmium and in Dysprosium. The electron orbitals in Dy are determined including the one-hole states in the selfconsistent iteration. The influence of the three-hole states on the Dy deexcitation (by X-rays and Auger electrons) can hardly be seen. The three-hole states seem not to be relevant for the determination of the electron neutrino mass.

163 Holmium to 163 Dysprosium is probably due to the small Q value of about 2.5 keV the best case to determine the neutrino mass by electron capture. The energy of the Q value is distributed between the excitation of Dysprosium (and the neglected small recoil of Holmium) and the relativistic energy of the emitted neutrino including the restmass. The reduction of the upper end of the deexcitation spectrum of Dysprosium below the Q value allows to determine the neutrino mass. The excitation of Dysprosium can be calculated in the sudden approximation of the overlap of the electron wave functions of Holmium minus the captured electron and one-, two-, three- and multiple hole-excitations in Dysprosium. Robertson and the author have calculated the influence of the two-hole states on the Dysprosium deexitation spectrum. Here for the first time the influence of the three-hole states on the deexcitation bolometer spectrum of 163 Dysprosium is presented. The electron wave functions and the overlaps are calculated selfconsitently in a fully relativistic and antisymmetrized Dirac-Hartree-Fock approach in Holmium and in Dysprosium. The electron orbitals in Dysprosium are determined including the one-hole states in the selfconsistent iteration. The influence of the three-hole states on the deexcitation (by X-rays and Auger electrons) spectrum is hardly visible. The three-hole states seem not to be important for the determination of the neutrino mass., 4 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1501.04338

ISBN: 978-0-7354-1333-7; International audience; The LUMINEU program aims at performing a pilot experiment on 0ν2β decay of 100 Mo using radiopure ZnMoO4 crystals enriched in 100 Mo operated as cryogenic scintillating bolometers. Large volume ZnMoO4 crystal scintillators (∼ 0.3 kg) were developed and tested showing high performance in terms of radiopurity, energy resolution and α/β particle discrimination capability. Zinc molybdate crystal scintillators enriched in 100 Mo were grown for the first time by the low-thermal-gradient Czochralski technique with a high crystal yield and an acceptable level of enriched molybdenum irrecoverable losses. A background level of ∼ 0.5 counts/(yr keV ton) in the region of interest can be reached in a large detector array thanks to the excellent detectors radiopurity and particle discrimination capability, suppression of randomly coinciding events by pulse-shape analysis, and anticoincidence cut. These results pave the way to future sensitive searches based on the LUMINEU technology, capable of approaching and exploring the inverted hierarchy region of the neutrino mass pattern.

Cryogenic particle detectors have recently been adopted in radiation detection and measurement because of their high energy resolution. Many of these detectors have demonstrated energy resolutions better than the theoretical limit of semiconductor detectors. We report the development of a micro-fabricated magnetic calorimeter coupled to a large-area particle absorber. It is based on a planar, 1 mm2 large paramagnetic temperature sensor made of sputtered Au:Er, which covers a superconducting meander-shaped pickup coil coupled to a low-noise dc-SQUID to monitor the magnetization of the sensor. A piece of gold foil of 2.5×2.5×0.07 mm3 was glued to the Au:Er film to serve as an absorber for incident alpha particles. The detector performance was investigated with an 241Am source. The signal size comparison for alpha and gamma peaks with a large difference in energy demonstrated that the detector had good linear behavior. An energy resolution of 2.83±0.05 keV in FWHM was obtained for 5.5 MeV alpha particles.

International audience; The project LUMINEU is mainly aiming at the search for neutrinoless double-beta decay of the candidate nuclide $^{100}$Mo using cryogenic ZnMoO$_4$ detectors with simultaneous heat and scintillation light detection for radioactive background rejection. It also includes some development for dark matter search using cryogenic Ge detectors with simultaneous heat and ionization detection for background rejection. For both cases, metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMCs) are studied among several thermometer types. In double-beta decay search, the intrinsically fast response of MMCs reading out the light detector may allow for a very fast signal rise time and help to reduce the potential background due to pile-up of two-neutrino double beta decay events. In dark matter search, MMCs reading out the heat channel may improve the energy resolution with respect to the standard NTD Ge thermistor readout and hence the sensitivity of the detectors for low-mass WIMPs.

Holmium 163 offers perhaps the best chance to determine the neutrino mass by electron capture (EC). This contribution treats the EC in Holmium completely relativistic for the overlap and exchange corrections and the description of the bolometer spectrum. The theoretical expressions are derived consistently in second quantization with the help of Wickʼs theorem assuming single Slater determinants for the initial Ho and the final Dy atoms with holes in the final and states. One needs no hand waving arguments to derive the exchange terms. It seems, that for the first time the multiplicity of electrons in the orbital overlaps are included in the numerical treatment. Electron capture is proportional to the probability to find the captured electron in the parent atom at the nucleus. Non-relativistically this is only possible for electron states. Relativistically also electrons have a probability due to the lower part of the relativistic electron spinor, which does not disappear at the origin. Moreover relativistic effects increase by contraction the electron probability at the nucleus. Capture from other states are suppressed. However they can be allowed with smaller intensity due to finite nuclear size. These probabilities are at least three orders smaller than the EC from and states. The purpose of this work is to give a consistent relativistic formulation and treatment of the overlap and exchange corrections for EC in Ho to excited atomic states in Dy and to show the influence of the different configurations in the final Dy states. The overlap and exchange corrections are essential for the calorimetric spectrum of the de-excitation of the hole states in dysprosium. The slope of the upper end of the spectrum, which contains the information on the electron neutrino mass, is different. In addition the effect of the finite energy resolution on the spectrum and on the determination of the neutrino mass is studied. The neutrino mass must finally be determined by maximum likelihood methods to fit the theoretical spectra at the upper end near the Q value varying the neutrino mass, the Q-value and probably also the energy resolution, because at the moment Q and the energy resolution are not known to the accuracy needed.

The analysis of the endpoint region of the calorimetrically measured $^{163}$Ho electron capture spectrum is a very promising way to determine the mass of the electron neutrino. The achievable sensitivity of $^{163}$Ho-based experiments and the experimental challenges will be presented. Three large collaborations aim to develop large scale experiments able to reach sub-eV sensitivity. Presently pilot experiments are performed to demonstrate the possibility to calorimetrically measure high precision and high statistics $^{163}$Ho spectra. The different approaches as well as the state of the art of the experimental efforts for the three collaborations will be discussed., Comment: Problem with references which led to mistakes in the table that need to be clarified with the authors of the references

The calorimetric determination of the neutrino mass by means of cryogenic detectors could play a significant role, being in principle able to investigate the 10 −1 eV/ c 2 region. But the question if the developments in this new technique will allow verify the expected performances is still open. A step forward in the advancement of this technology is represented by the incoming second-generation experiment on the β-decay of Re 187 with superconducting rhenium, microcalorimeters, MANU-2. It is expected that this new experiment with about 300 detectors will achieve a sensitivity of 1.5 eV/ c 2 (90% CL), in 1 yr, that allow to cover or improve the present best limit from tritium beta spectroscopy.

The Thorium-229 isotope features a nuclear isomer state with an extremely low energy. The currently most accepted energy value, 7.8 +- 0.5 eV, was obtained from an indirect measurement using a NASA x-ray microcalorimeter with an instrumental resolution 26 eV. We study, how state-of-the-art magnetic metallic microcalorimeters with an energy resolution down to a few eV can be used to measure the isomer energy. In particular, resolving the 29.18 keV doublet in the \gamma-spectrum following the \alpha-decay of Uranium-233, corresponding to the decay into the ground and isomer state, allows to measure the isomer transition energy without additional theoretical input parameters, and increase the energy accuracy. We study the possibility of resolving the 29.18 keV line as a doublet and the dependence of the attainable precision of the energy measurement on the signal and background count rates and the instrumental resolution., Comment: 32 pages, 8 figures, eq. (3) corrected

We describe a prototype γ-ray detector based on a metallic magnetic calorimeter with an energy resolution of 46 eV at 60 keV and a reproducible response function that follows a simple second-order polynomial. The simple detector calibration allows adding high-resolution spectra from different pixels and different cool-downs without loss in energy resolution to determine γ-ray centroids with high accuracy. As an example of an application in nuclear safeguards enabled by such a γ-ray detector, we discuss the non-destructive assay of 242Pu in a mixed-isotope Pu sample.

For the first time we have investigated the behavior of fully micro-fabricated low temperature metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMCs) after undergoing an ion-implantation process. This experiment had the aim to show the possibility to perform a high precision calorimetric measurement of the energy spectrum following the electron capture of $^{163}$Ho using MMCs having the radioactive $^{163}$Ho ions implanted in the absorber. The implantation of $^{163}$Ho ions was performed at ISOLDE-CERN. The performance of a detector that underwent an ion-implantation process is compared to the one of a detector without implanted ions. The results show that the implantation dose of ions used in this experiment does not compromise the properties of the detector. In addition an optimized detector design for future $^{163}$Ho experiments is presented. For the first time we have investigated the behavior of fully micro-fabricated low temperature metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMCs) after undergoing an ion-implantation process. This experiment had the aim to show the possibility to perform a high precision calorimetric measurement of the energy spectrum following the electron capture of 163 Ho using MMCs having the radioactive 163 Ho ions implanted in the absorber. The isotope 163 Ho decays through electron capture to 163 Dy and features the smallest known For the first time we have investigated the behavior of fully micro-fabricated low temperature metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMCs) after undergoing an ion-implantation process. This experiment had the aim to show the possibility to perform a high precision calorimetric measurement of the energy spectrum following the electron capture of $^{163}$Ho using MMCs having the radioactive $^{163}$Ho ions implanted in the absorber. The implantation of $^{163}$Ho ions was performed at ISOLDE-CERN. The performance of a detector that underwent an ion-implantation process is compared to the one of a detector without implanted ions. The results show that the implantation dose of ions used in this experiment does not compromise the properties of the detector. In addition an optimized detector design for future $^{163}$Ho experiments is presented.

We describe and discuss the features of MARE, an experiment based on arrays of rhenium low temperature microcalorimeters that have the potential to bring the sensitivity to the neutrino mass down to 0.2 eV, by studying the beta spectrum of Re 187 ( Q -value = 2.47 keV).

Metallic magnetic calorimeters are energy dispersive particle detectors that are operated at temperatures below . Applied to x-ray spectroscopy they combine the high energy resolution of crystal spectrometers with the large energy bandwidth of semiconductor detectors. After the absorption of a photon its energy is converted into heat. A paramagnetic alloy converts the temperature change into a change of magnetization that is read out by a sensitive superconducting quantum interference device magnetometer. With such a metallic magnetic calorimeter we performed two successful measurements at the internal gas target of the experimental storage ring at GSI. In the first beamtime lithium-like Au-ions were targeted on a N2 and a Xe gas target, respectively. In the second beamtime we observed a projectile beam of bare Xe ions interacting with a Xe gas target. In both experiments we achieved an energy resolution below from to . We were able to detect K-lines of Xe ions of different charge states, including the Lyman series up to Ly-η and could resolve the Ly-β-doublet in H-like Xe.