Search results for " Admixture"
showing 7 items of 17 documents
$^{222}$Rn emanation measurements for the XENON1T experiment
2021
The selection of low-radioactive construction materials is of utmost importance for the success of low-energy rare event search experiments. Besides radioactive contaminants in the bulk, the emanation of radioactive radon atoms from material surfaces attains increasing relevance in the effort to further reduce the background of such experiments. In this work, we present the $^{222}$Rn emanation measurements performed for the XENON1T dark matter experiment. Together with the bulk impurity screening campaign, the results enabled us to select the radio-purest construction materials, targeting a $^{222}$Rn activity concentration of 10 $\mu$Bq/kg in 3.2 t of xenon. The knowledge of the distribut…
A 4 tonne demonstrator for large-scale dual-phase liquid argon time projection chambers
2018
A 10 kilo-tonne dual-phase liquid argon TPC is one of the detector options considered for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). The detector technology relies on amplification of the ionisation charge in ultra-pure argon vapour and offers several advantages compared to the traditional single-phase liquid argon TPCs. A 4.2 tonne dual-phase liquid argon TPC prototype, the largest of its kind, with an active volume of \three has been constructed and operated at CERN. In this paper we describe in detail the experimental setup and detector components as well as report on the operation experience. We also present the first results on the achieved charge amplification, prompt scintillat…
Characterization of eggshell as limestone replacement and its influence on properties of modified cement
2022
Food industry is known to produce, as a side product, huge amounts of eggshell. “Green chemistry” is searching for efficient ways of recycling antropogenic waste materials including also eggshell which is composed mainly from calcium carbonate and small amount of protein membrane. It is challenging to apply powdered chicken eggshell in cement industry and replace natural limestone. The impact of organic component of eggshell on modified cement was not studied yet. In the current report experimental studies were performed on the impact of the added powdered chicken eggshell instead of limestone on cement properties. 10, 20, and 30% of powdered eggshell (by weight) was added to Portland cemen…
The experimental facility for the Search for Hidden Particles at the CERN SPS
2019
The Search for Hidden Particles (SHiP) Collaboration has shown that the CERN SPS accelerator with its 400 $\mathrm{\small GeV/c}$ proton beam offers a unique opportunity to explore the Hidden Sector. The proposed experiment is an intensity frontier experiment which is capable of searching for hidden particles through both visible decays and through scattering signatures from recoil of electrons or nuclei. The high-intensity experimental facility developed by the SHiP collaboration is based on a number of key features and developments which provide the possibility of probing a large part of the parameter space for a wide range of models with light long-lived superweakly interacting particles…
Influence of the stereochemistry and of the functionality of organic molecules on the hydration of cementitious compounds
2015
The current limited knowledge on the interactions between organic admixtures and mineral phases as well as their influence on the hydration mechanisms of the Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) represents a real limitation in the development of new organic products with improved and controlled properties. Here, this study intended to understand why and how organic admixtures modify the setting time of OPC by progressively varying the characteristics of simple organic molecules such as their charge, functional groups (hydroxyl, hydroxy-carboxylate, carboxylate, sulfonate and phosphonate) and the stereochemistry of their hydroxyl groups.The different retardations induced by the organic molecules s…
Optimization of the JUNO liquid scintillator composition using a Daya Bay antineutrino detector
2021
To maximize the light yield of the liquid scintillator (LS) for the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO), a 20 t LS sample was produced in a pilot plant at Daya Bay. The optical properties of the new LS in various compositions were studied by replacing the gadolinium-loaded LS in one antineutrino detector. The concentrations of the fluor, PPO, and the wavelength shifter, bis-MSB, were increased in 12 steps from 0.5 g/L and <0.01 mg/L to 4 g/L and 13 mg/L, respectively. The numbers of total detected photoelectrons suggest that, with the optically purified solvent, the bis-MSB concentration does not need to be more than 4 mg/L. To bridge the one order of magnitude in the detect…
Online ^{222}Rn removal by cryogenic distillation in the XENON100 experiment
2017
International audience; We describe the purification of xenon from traces of the radioactive noble gas radon using a cryogenic distillation column. The distillation column was integrated into the gas purification loop of the XENON100 detector for online radon removal. This enabled us to significantly reduce the constant$^{222}$ Rn background originating from radon emanation. After inserting an auxiliary$^{222}$ Rn emanation source in the gas loop, we determined a radon reduction factor of $R\,>\,27$ (95% C.L.) for the distillation column by monitoring the$^{222}$ Rn activity concentration inside the XENON100 detector.