Li2100deplMoO4 crystals grown by low-thermal-gradient Czochralski technique

Abstract

For the first time, Li2MoO4crystals depleted in molybdenum-100 (100Mo) isotope were grown by Czochralski technique under low thermal gradient conditions (LTG Cz) that made it possible to obtain large crystals of given geometry and required quality. Depleted lithium molybdate crystals Li2deplMoO4 are excellent candidates for creating cryogenic scintillating bolometers with weight of up to 0.3 kg. Such bolometers can be used to reduce the internal radiation background of detectors and to increase sensitivity in physics and astrophysics experiments for rare events search. The grown Li2100deplMoO4 crystal was compared with the crystal samples of natural and enriched in 100Mo isotope in regard of their response to pulsed X-ray irradiation and Raman spectra.