Characterization of a kg-scale archaeological lead-based PbWO4 cryogenic detector for the RES-NOVA experiment

Core-collapse Supernovae (SNe) are one of the most energetic events in the Universe, during which almost all the star's binding energy is released in the form of neutrinos. These particles are direct probes of the processes occurring in the stellar core and provide unique insights into the gravitational collapse. RES-NOVA will revolutionize how we detect neutrinos from astrophysical sources, by deploying the first ton-scale array of cryogenic detectors made from archaeological lead. Pb offers the highest neutrino interaction cross-section via coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEνNS). Such process will enable RES-NOVA to be equally sensitive to all neutrino flavours. For the first time, we propose the use archaeological Pb as sensitive target material in order to achieve an ultra-low background level in the region of interest (O(1 keV)). All these features make possible the deployment of the first cm-scale neutrino telescope for the investigation of astrophysical sources. In this contribution, we will characterize the radiopurity level and the performance of a small-scale proof-of-principle detector of RES-NOVA, consisting in a PbWO₄ crystal made from archaeological-Pb operated as cryogenic detector.

Band tail absorption saturation in CdWO4 with 100 fs laser pulses

The decay kinetics of the excitonic emission of CdWO4 scintillators was studied under excitation by powerful 100 fs laser pulses in the band tail (Urbach) absorption region. A special imaging technique possessing both spatial and temporal resolution provided a unique insight into the Förster dipole-dipole interaction of self-trapped excitons, which is the main cause of the nonlinear quenching of luminescence in this material. In addition, the saturation of phonon-assisted excitonic absorption due to extremely short excitation pulses was discovered. A model describing the evolution of electronic excitations in the conditions of absorption saturation was developed and an earlier model of decay kinetics based on the Förster interaction was extended to include the saturation effect. Compared to the previous studies, a more accurate calculation yields 3.7 nm as the Förster interaction radius. It was shown that exciton-exciton interaction is the main source of scintillation nonproportionality in CdWO4. A quantitative description using a new model of nonproportionality was presented, making use of the corrected value of the Förster radius.