Köln 2025 – scientific programme
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HK: Fachverband Physik der Hadronen und Kerne
HK 5: Instrumentation II
HK 5.3: Talk
Monday, March 10, 2025, 15:30–15:45, SR Exp1B Chemie
MC simulation of an ultra-low background HPGe detector for meteorite analyses — •Marie Pichotta1, Axel Boeltzig2, Steffen Turkat3,4, and Kai Zuber1 — 1Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany — 2Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Dresden, Germany — 3Università degli Studi di Padova, Padova, Italy — 4Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Padova, Italy
An ultra-low-level gamma-ray counting setup was commissioned at the Felsenkeller shallow-underground laboratory, located at a depth of 140 m.w.e., in Dresden, Germany. This setup features a high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector with 163% relative efficiency, enclosed within both passive and active shielding. These shielding types reduce the remaining background rate to 116(1) counts kg−1d−1 within the energy range [40 keV, 2700 keV], making it the most sensitive HPGe detector in Germany and enabling the investigation of samples with activities well below 1 mBq.
In addition to describing the setup design, this contribution will present the Monte Carlo simulation of the detector. A current application of this work is the measurement of a rare meteorite sample, where 3D scanning techniques and simulations were used to determine the specific activities of cosmogenic radionuclides.
Keywords: HPGe detector; Ultra-low background; MC simulations; Meteorite analysis; Cosmogenic Radionuclides