文摘

The LUMINEU project is a demonstrator experiment that will search for the neutrinoless double beta decay of the isotope \(^{100}\) Mo embedded in zinc molybdate (ZnMoO \(_4\) ) scintillating bolometers. In this context, a zinc molybdate crystal boule enriched in \(^{100}\) Mo to 99.5?% with a mass of 171?g was grown for the first time by the low-thermal-gradient Czochralski technique. The production cycle provided a high yield (the crystal boule mass was 84?% of the initial charge) and an acceptable level—around 4?%—of irrecoverable losses of the costly enriched material. Two crystals of 59 and 63?g, obtained from the enriched boule, were tested above ground at millikelvin temperatures as scintillating bolometers. They showed a good detection performance, equivalent to that of previously developed natural ZnMoO \(_4\) detectors. These results pave the way to future sensitive searches based on the LUMINEU technology, capable of approaching and exploring the inverted hierarchy region of the neutrino mass pattern.