Precision Measurements of Beta Spectra using Metallic Magnetic Calorimeters within the European Metrology Research Project MetroBeta

• Published in: Journal of low temperature physics Vol. 199; no. 1-2; pp. 451 - 460
• Main Authors: Loidl, M., Beyer, J., Bockhorn, L., Bonaparte, J. J., Enss, C., Kempf, S., Kossert, K., Mariam, R., Nähle, O., Paulsen, M., Ranitzsch, P., Rodrigues, M., Wegner, M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.04.2020; Springer Nature B.V; Springer Verlag (Germany)
• Subjects: Absorbers; Beta decay; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Condensed Matter Physics; Emitters; Energy resolution; Instrumentation and Detectors; Low temperature physics; Magnetic Materials; Magnetism; Metal matrix composites; Metrology; Nuclear Experiment; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Q values; Radioisotopes; Research projects; Spectra; Metallic magnetic calorimeter; Radionuclide metrology; Beta spectrometry; nuclear instrumentation; energy resolution; metrology; absorber heat capacity; Decay data measurement; metallic magnetic calorimeter; spectrum analysis; Decay data evaluation; beta-rays; beta spectra; calorimeter; absorber; instrumentation; ionizing radiation; radioactivity
• ISSN: 0022-2291; 1573-7357
• DOI: 10.1007/s10909-020-02398-2

MetroBeta, a recently completed European Metrology Research Project, aimed at the improvement of the knowledge of the shapes of beta spectra, both in terms of theoretical calculation and measurement. The most prominent experimental work package concerned the measurement of the spectrum shapes of several beta decaying radionuclides by means of metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMCs) with the beta emitter embedded in the absorber. New MMC chips were designed and optimized for five different absorber heat capacities, enabling the measurement of beta spectra with Q values ranging from few tens of keV up to ~ 1 MeV. Several beta spectra were measured with high energy resolution and statistics of up to 10 7 counts.