Thermal neutron–induced γ-ray background in 124Sn

G. Gupta; H. Krishnamoorthy; A. Garai; A. Mazumdar; V. Nanal; A. Shrivastava; R. G. Pillay

doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2019.108923

Thermal neutron–induced γ-ray background in ¹²⁴Sn

G. Gupta, H. Krishnamoorthy, A. Garai, A. Mazumdar, V. Nanal, A. Shrivastava, R. G. Pillay

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The thermal neutron-induced gamma-ray background in ¹²⁴Sn is investigated in connection with neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ) studies in ¹²⁴Sn. For this purpose, a 99.26% enriched ¹²⁴Sn sample was irradiated with a thermal neutron fluence of 3×10¹⁵/cm² in the Dhruva reactor at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai. The gamma ray spectra of the irradiated sample were measured in a low background counting setup to study both long-lived and short-lived activities. The present data give an independent measurement of the half-life of ¹²⁵Sn*(3/2⁺) and ¹²⁵Sn(11/2⁻) as 10.01(8) min and 9.63(2) d, respectively. The impact of the observed high-energy gamma rays and the residual activity due to ¹²⁵Sb, on the background in the region of interest around the Q_ββ value of ¹²⁴Sn (~2.291 MeV) is discussed.

Original language	English
Article number	108923
Journal	Applied Radiation and Isotopes
Volume	158
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apradiso.2019.108923
State	Published - Apr 2020
Externally published	Yes

Funding

We thank the Dhruva reactor irradiation facility staff, Dr. Suparna Sodaye, and Dr. R. Acharya for their help during irradiation and initial counting at BARC. We are grateful to Dr. K.G. Bhushan for SIMS measurements, and to Mr. M.S. Pose, Mr. S. Mallikarjunachary, and Mr. K.V. Divekar for their help during measurements at TIFR.

Funders	Funder number
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre

Keywords

Thermal neutron capture
γ-ray background

Access to Document

10.1016/j.apradiso.2019.108923

Cite this

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title = "Thermal neutron–induced γ-ray background in 124Sn",

abstract = "The thermal neutron-induced gamma-ray background in 124Sn is investigated in connection with neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ) studies in 124Sn. For this purpose, a 99.26% enriched 124Sn sample was irradiated with a thermal neutron fluence of 3×1015/cm2 in the Dhruva reactor at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai. The gamma ray spectra of the irradiated sample were measured in a low background counting setup to study both long-lived and short-lived activities. The present data give an independent measurement of the half-life of 125Sn*(3/2+) and 125Sn(11/2−) as 10.01(8) min and 9.63(2) d, respectively. The impact of the observed high-energy gamma rays and the residual activity due to 125Sb, on the background in the region of interest around the Qββ value of 124Sn (~2.291 MeV) is discussed.",

keywords = "Thermal neutron capture, γ-ray background",

author = "G. Gupta and H. Krishnamoorthy and A. Garai and A. Mazumdar and V. Nanal and A. Shrivastava and Pillay, {R. G.}",

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AU - Gupta, G.

AU - Krishnamoorthy, H.

AU - Garai, A.

AU - Mazumdar, A.

AU - Nanal, V.

AU - Shrivastava, A.

AU - Pillay, R. G.

PY - 2020/4

Y1 - 2020/4

N2 - The thermal neutron-induced gamma-ray background in 124Sn is investigated in connection with neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ) studies in 124Sn. For this purpose, a 99.26% enriched 124Sn sample was irradiated with a thermal neutron fluence of 3×1015/cm2 in the Dhruva reactor at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai. The gamma ray spectra of the irradiated sample were measured in a low background counting setup to study both long-lived and short-lived activities. The present data give an independent measurement of the half-life of 125Sn*(3/2+) and 125Sn(11/2−) as 10.01(8) min and 9.63(2) d, respectively. The impact of the observed high-energy gamma rays and the residual activity due to 125Sb, on the background in the region of interest around the Qββ value of 124Sn (~2.291 MeV) is discussed.

AB - The thermal neutron-induced gamma-ray background in 124Sn is investigated in connection with neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ) studies in 124Sn. For this purpose, a 99.26% enriched 124Sn sample was irradiated with a thermal neutron fluence of 3×1015/cm2 in the Dhruva reactor at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai. The gamma ray spectra of the irradiated sample were measured in a low background counting setup to study both long-lived and short-lived activities. The present data give an independent measurement of the half-life of 125Sn*(3/2+) and 125Sn(11/2−) as 10.01(8) min and 9.63(2) d, respectively. The impact of the observed high-energy gamma rays and the residual activity due to 125Sb, on the background in the region of interest around the Qββ value of 124Sn (~2.291 MeV) is discussed.

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