Light yield of cold undoped CsI crystal down to 13 keV and the application of such crystals in neutrino detection

Abstract

AbstractThe light yield of an undoped CsI crystal at about 77 Kelvin was measured to be $$33.5 \, \pm \, 0.7$$ 33.5 ± 0.7  photo-electrons (PE) per keV electron-equivalent (keVee) in the energy range of [13, 60] keVee using X and $$\gamma $$ γ -rays from an $$^{241}$$ 241 Am radioactive source. Based on this experimental result, the performance of 10 kg cryogenic inorganic scintillating crystals coupled to SiPM arrays to probe non-standard neutrino interactions through the detection of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scatterings at the spallation neutron source, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, was examined in detail.