Observation of Singly Charged Barium Ions in a Buffer Gas: Towards a Functional Barium-Tagging System for Use in the Enriched Xenon Observatory

The observation of the rare neutrinoless-double-beta-decay will have major implications for both neutrino physics and particle physics on a whole. A positive observation will confirm the Majorana nature of the neutrino and demonstrate that lepton number is not strictly conserved. Furthermore, a measurement of the decay half-life will lend itself to a measurement of the absolute mass scale of the neutrino. The sensitivity to observing the neutrinoless-double-beta-decay of 136Xe is analyzed for the EXO experiment and the benefits of inclusion of a barium-tagging system in a future tonne-scale detector are demonstrated. Additionally, the sensitivity to single barium ion identification is analyzed for two different methods of observation – continuous excitation and intermodulation. The intermodulation technique was determined to be more sensitive as single barium ions were observed with a high signal-to-noise ratio of ~4 for a one second observation time. Single ions were not observed using the continuous excitation technique.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (M.Sc.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Master's

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Physics

Grantor dc:publisher

Carleton University

Year dc:date.issued

2015

Author dc:creator

• Killick, Ryan Scott

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright © 2015 the author(s). Theses may be used for non-commercial research, educational, or related academic purposes only. Such uses include personal study, research, scholarship, and teaching. Theses may only be shared by linking to Carleton University Institutional Repository and no part may be used without proper attribution to the author. No part may be used for commercial purposes directly or indirectly via a for-profit platform; no adaptation or derivative works are permitted without consent from the copyright owner.

Language dc:language.iso

en

DOI

10.22215/etd/2015-11073

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:carleton.scholaris.ca:20.500.14718/39216