GeMSE: a low-background facility for gamma-spectrometry at moderate rock overburden

Abstract

Abstract The GeMSE (Germanium Material and meteorite Screening Experiment) facility operates a low-background HPGe crystal in an underground laboratory with a moderate rock overburden of 620 m.w.e. in Switzerland. It has been optimized for continuous remote operation. A multi-layer passive shielding, a muon veto, and a boil-off nitrogen purge line inside the measurement cavity minimize the instrument's background rate, which decreased by 33% to (164 ± 2) counts/day (100 – 2700 keV) after five years of underground operation. This agrees with the prediction based on the expected decay of short-lived isotopes. A fit to the known background components, modeled via a precise simulation of the detector, shows that the GeMSE background is now muon-dominated. We also present updates towards a more accurate detection efficiency calculation for the screened samples: the thickness of the crystal's outer dead-layer is precisely determined and the efficiency can now be easily calculated for any sample geometry. The advantage of this feature is showcased via the determination of the 40K content in the screening of a complex-shaped object: a banana.