Alpha backgrounds for HPGe detectors in neutrinoless double-beta decay experiments

Abstract

The Majorana Experiment will use arrays of enriched HPGe detectors to search for the neutrinoless double-beta decay of 76Ge. Such a decay, if found, would show lepton-number violation and confirm the Majorana nature of the neutrino. Searches for such rare events are hindered by obscuring backgrounds which must be understood and mitigated as much as possible. A potentially important background contribution to this and other double-beta decay experiments could come from decays of alpha-emitting isotopes in the 232Th and 238U decay chains on or near the surfaces of the detectors. An alpha particle emitted external to an HPGe crystal can lose energy before entering the active region of the detector, either in some external-bulk material or within the dead region of the crystal. The measured energy of the event will only correspond to a partial amount of the total kinetic energy of the alpha and might obscure the signal from neutrinoless double-beta decay. A test stand was built and measurements were performed to quantitatively assess this background. We present results from these measurements and compare them to simulations using Geant4. These results are then used to measure the alpha backgrounds in an underground detector in situ. We also make estimates of surface contamination tolerances for double-beta decay experiments using solid-state detectors.