Nora Boyd | Siena College (original) (raw)
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The focal-plane detector system for the KArlsruhe TRItium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment consists o... more The focal-plane detector system for the KArlsruhe TRItium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment consists of a multi-pixel silicon p-in -diode array, custom readout electronics, two superconducting solenoid magnets, an ultra high-vacuum system, a high-vacuum system, calibration and monitoring devices, a scintillating veto, and a custom data-acquisition system. It is designed to detect the low-energy electrons selected by the KATRIN main spectrometer. We describe the system and summarize its performance after its final installation.
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Semiconductor detectors in general have a dead layer at their surfaces that is either a result of... more Semiconductor detectors in general have a dead layer at their surfaces that is either a result of natural or induced passivation, or is formed during the process of making a contact. Charged particles passing through this region produce ionization that is incompletely collected and recorded, which leads to departures from the ideal in both energy deposition and resolution. The silicon \textit{p-i-n} diode used in the KATRIN neutrino-mass experiment has such a dead layer. We have constructed a detailed Monte Carlo model for the passage of electrons from vacuum into a silicon detector, and compared the measured energy spectra to the predicted ones for a range of energies from 12 to 20 keV. The comparison provides experimental evidence that a substantial fraction of the ionization produced in the "dead" layer evidently escapes by diffusion, with 46% being collected in the depletion zone and the balance being neutralized at the contact or by bulk recombination. The most elementary model of a thinner dead layer from which no charge is collected is strongly disfavored.
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Physical Review C, 2007
A significant decay branch of 8B to the ground state of 8Be would extend the solar neutrino spect... more A significant decay branch of 8B to the ground state of 8Be would extend the solar neutrino spectrum to higher energies than anticipated in the standard solar models. These high-energy neutrinos would affect current neutrino oscillation results and also would be a background to measurements of the hep process. We have measured the delayed alpha particles from the decay of 8B, with the goal of observing the two 46-keV alpha particles arising from the ground-state decay. The 8B was produced using an in-flight radioactive beam technique. It was implanted in a silicon PIN-diode detector that was capable of identifying the alpha-particles from the 8Be ground state. From this measurement we find an upper limit (at 90% confidence level) of 7.3 x 10^{-5} for the branching ratio to the ground state. In addition to describing this measurement, we present a theoretical calculation for this branching ratio.
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The focal-plane detector system for the KArlsruhe TRItium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment consists o... more The focal-plane detector system for the KArlsruhe TRItium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment consists of a multi-pixel silicon p-in -diode array, custom readout electronics, two superconducting solenoid magnets, an ultra high-vacuum system, a high-vacuum system, calibration and monitoring devices, a scintillating veto, and a custom data-acquisition system. It is designed to detect the low-energy electrons selected by the KATRIN main spectrometer. We describe the system and summarize its performance after its final installation.
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Semiconductor detectors in general have a dead layer at their surfaces that is either a result of... more Semiconductor detectors in general have a dead layer at their surfaces that is either a result of natural or induced passivation, or is formed during the process of making a contact. Charged particles passing through this region produce ionization that is incompletely collected and recorded, which leads to departures from the ideal in both energy deposition and resolution. The silicon \textit{p-i-n} diode used in the KATRIN neutrino-mass experiment has such a dead layer. We have constructed a detailed Monte Carlo model for the passage of electrons from vacuum into a silicon detector, and compared the measured energy spectra to the predicted ones for a range of energies from 12 to 20 keV. The comparison provides experimental evidence that a substantial fraction of the ionization produced in the "dead" layer evidently escapes by diffusion, with 46% being collected in the depletion zone and the balance being neutralized at the contact or by bulk recombination. The most elementary model of a thinner dead layer from which no charge is collected is strongly disfavored.
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Physical Review C, 2007
A significant decay branch of 8B to the ground state of 8Be would extend the solar neutrino spect... more A significant decay branch of 8B to the ground state of 8Be would extend the solar neutrino spectrum to higher energies than anticipated in the standard solar models. These high-energy neutrinos would affect current neutrino oscillation results and also would be a background to measurements of the hep process. We have measured the delayed alpha particles from the decay of 8B, with the goal of observing the two 46-keV alpha particles arising from the ground-state decay. The 8B was produced using an in-flight radioactive beam technique. It was implanted in a silicon PIN-diode detector that was capable of identifying the alpha-particles from the 8Be ground state. From this measurement we find an upper limit (at 90% confidence level) of 7.3 x 10^{-5} for the branching ratio to the ground state. In addition to describing this measurement, we present a theoretical calculation for this branching ratio.
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