Metallic Magnetic Calorimeters for Absolute Activity Measurement

Martin Loidl (1) , Elvire Leblanc (1) , Matias Rodrigues (1) , Jacques Bouchard (1) , B. Censier (1) , Thierry Branger (1) , D. Lacour (1)

1 LNHB - Laboratoire National Henri Becquerel

We present a prototype of metallic magnetic calorimeters that we are developing for absolute activity measurements of low energy emitting radionuclides. We give a detailed description of the realization of the prototype, containing an $^{55}$Fe source inside the detector absorber. We present the analysis of first data taken with this detector and compare the result of activity measurement with liquid scintillation counting. We also propose some ways for reducing the uncertainty on the activity determination with this new technique.

Keywords: activity determination; radionuclide; metallic magnetic calorimeters; detector absorber; absolute activity measurement; liquid scintillation counting; metrology; ionizing radiations

Domains: Instrumentation and Detectors [physics.ins-det]; Nuclear Experiment [nucl-ex]

Martin Loidl, Elvire Leblanc, Matias Rodrigues, Jacques Bouchard, B. Censier, et al.. Metallic Magnetic Calorimeters for Absolute Activity Measurement. Journal of Low Temperature Physics, 2008, 151 (3-4), pp.1055-1060. ⟨10.1007/s10909-008-9793-7⟩. ⟨cea-02475514⟩