Measurement of ionization and phonon production by nuclear recoils in a 60 g crystal of germanium at 25 mK

T. Shutt; B. Ellman; P. D. Barnes, Jr; A. Cummings; A. Da Silva; J. Emes; Y. Giraud-Héraud; E. E. Haller; A. E. Lange; R. R. Ross; J. Rich; B. Sadoulet; G. Smith; W. Stockwell; C. Stubbs; N. Wang; S. White; B. A. Young; D. Yvon

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.69.3425

Measurement of ionization and phonon production by nuclear recoils in a 60 g crystal of germanium at 25 mK

T. Shutt, B. Ellman, P. D. Barnes, Jr., A. Cummings, A. Da Silva, J. Emes, Y. Giraud-Héraud, E. E. Haller, A. E. Lange, R. R. Ross, J. Rich, B. Sadoulet, G. Smith, W. Stockwell, C. Stubbs, N. Wang, S. White, B. A. Young, and D. Yvon

Phys. Rev. Lett. 69, 3425 – Published 14 December 1992

Abstract

We report on the first measurement of the absolute phonon energy and the amount of ionization produced by the recoil of nuclei and electrons in a 60 g germanium cyrstal at a temperature of ≊25 mK. We find good agreement between our results and previous measurements of ionization yield from nuclear recoils in germanium. Our device achieves 10:1 discrimination between neutrons and photons in the few keV energy range, demonstrating the feasibility of this technique for large reductions of background in searches for direct interactions of weakly interacting massive particle dark matter.

Received 11 September 1992

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.69.3425

Authors & Affiliations

T. Shutt, B. Ellman, P. D. Barnes, Jr., A. Cummings, A. Da Silva, J. Emes, Y. Giraud-Héraud, E. E. Haller, A. E. Lange, R. R. Ross, J. Rich, B. Sadoulet, G. Smith, W. Stockwell, C. Stubbs, N. Wang, S. White, B. A. Young, and D. Yvon

Center for Particle Astrophysics, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720
Department of Physics, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720
Department of Material Science Mineral Engineering, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, California, 94720
Department of Physics, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106
Department d’Astrophysique, de Physique des Particules, de Physique Nucleaire et de l’Instrumentation Associée-Service Physique des Particles Centre d’Etudes de Saclay, 91191 Gif-Sur-Yvette, CEDEX, France
Department of Physics, University of British Columbia, 6224 Agricultural Road, Vancouver, British Columbia Canada V6T 1Z1
Laboratoire de Physique Corpusculaire, College de France, 75231 Paris, Franc e