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Demonstration of Single-Barium-Ion Sensitivity for Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay Using Single-Molecule Fluorescence Imaging

2018; American Physical Society; Volume: 120; Issue: 13 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1103/physrevlett.120.132504

1092-0145

A.D. McDonald, B. J. P. Jones, D. R. Nygren, C. Adams, V. Álvarez, C.D.R. Azevedo, J. M. Benlloch-Rodríguez, F.I.G.M. Borges, Alexandre M. P. Botas, S. Cárcel, J.V. Carríon, S. Cebrián, C.A.N. Conde, J. Dı́az, M. Diesburg, J. Escada, R. Esteve, R. Felkai, L. M. P. Fernandes, P. Ferrario, A. L. Ferreira, E.D.C. Freitas, A. Goldschmidt, J.J. Gómez-Cadenas, D. González-Díaz, Rafael Gutiérrez, R. Guénette, K. Hafidi, J. M. Hauptman, C. A. O. Henriques, A.I. Hernandez, J. A. Hernando Morata, V. Herrero, S. Johnston, L. Labarga, A. Laing, P. Lebrun, I. Liubarsky, N. López-March, M. Losada, J. Martín-Albo, G. Martínez-Lema, A. Martínez, F. Monrabal, C.M.B. Monteiro, Francisco Mora, Luiz Moutinho, J. Muñoz Vidal, M. Musti, M. Nebot-Guinot, P. Novella, B. Palmeiro, A. Para, J. Pérez, M. Querol, J. Repond, J. Renner, S. Riordan, L. Ripoll, J. Rodríguez, L. Rogers, F.P. Santos, J.M.F. dos Santos, A. Simón, C. Sofka, M. Sorel, T. Stiegler, J.F. Toledo, J. Torrent, Z. Tsamalaidze, J.F.C.A. Veloso, R. Webb, James T. White, N. Yahlali,

Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies

A new method to tag the barium daughter in the double-beta decay of ^{136}Xe is reported. Using the technique of single molecule fluorescent imaging (SMFI), individual barium dication (Ba^{++}) resolution at a transparent scanning surface is demonstrated. A single-step photobleach confirms the single ion interpretation. Individual ions are localized with superresolution (∼2 nm), and detected with a statistical significance of 12.9σ over backgrounds. This lays the foundation for a new and potentially background-free neutrinoless double-beta decay technology, based on SMFI coupled to high pressure xenon gas time projection chambers.