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Observation of a low energy nuclear recoil peak in the neutron calibration data of an Al2O3 crystal in CRESST-III

G. Angloher1, F. Casadei1, E. Cipelli1, L. Canonica1, F. Dominsky1, D. Hauff1, A. Langenkämper1, M. Mancuso1, B. Mauri1 et al. (CRESST Collaboration)

B. Mauri1, C. Moore1, F. Petricca1, F. Pröbst1, K. Schäffner1, M. Stahlberg1, L. Stodolsky1, M. Zanirato1, A. Bento1,2, S. Di Lorenzo1,3, D. Fuchs1,4,5,*, P. V. Guillaumon1,6, V. Zema1,4, J. Burkhart4,†, S. Fichtinger4, V. M. Ghete4, H. Kluck4,‡, V. Mokina4, S. Banik4,5,§, L. Einfalt4,5, F. Reindl4,5, J. Schieck4,5, C. Schwertner4,5, D. Valdenaire4,5, A. Bertolini7, L. Burmeister7, E. Fascione7, P. Murali7, B. von Krosigk7,8, R. Breier9, M. Ješkovský9, P. Povinec9, C. Bucci3, P. Gorla3, M. Olmi3, F. Pucci3, C. Pagliarone3,10, L. Pattavina3,11, J. Dohm12, J. Jochum12, C. Strandhagen12, I. Usherov12, F. v. Feilitzsch, M. Kaznacheeva13, T. Ortmann13, W. Potzel13, J. Rothe13, S. Schönert13, R. Strauss13, A. Erb13,14, H. Kraus15, M. Macko16, and V. Palušovà16,17 (CRESST Collaboration)

  • 1Max-Planck-Institut für Physik, 85748 Garching, Germany
  • 2Also at: LIBPhys, Departamento de Fisica, Universidade de Coimbra, P3004 516 Coimbra, Portugal
  • 3INFN, Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, 67010 Assergi, Italy
  • 4Marietta Blau Institute for Particle Physics, 1010 Vienna, Austria
  • 5Atominstitut, Technische Universität Wien, 1020 Wien, Austria
  • 6Also at: Instituto de Física, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-090, Brazil
  • 7Kirchhoff-Institute for Physics, Heidelberg University, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
  • 8Institute for Astroparticle Physics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76128 Karlsruhe, Germany
  • 9Comenius University, Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, 84248 Bratislava, Slovakia
  • 10Also at: Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile e Meccanica, Università degli Studi di Cassino e del Lazio Meridionale, 03043 Cassino, Italy
  • 11Also at: Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Milano Bicocca, Milano, 20126, Italy
  • 12Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
  • 13Physik-Department, TUM School of Natural Sciences, Technische Universität München, D-85747 Garching, Germany
  • 14Also at: Walther-Meißner-Institut für Tieftemperaturforschung, 85748 Garching, Germany
  • 15Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3RH, United Kingdom
  • 16IEAP, Czech Technical University in Prague, CZ-11000 Prague, Czech Republic
  • 17Present address: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Institut für Physik, 55128 Mainz, Germany

  • *Contact author: dominik.fuchs@oeaw.ac.at
  • †Contact author: jens.burkhart@oeaw.ac.at
  • ‡Contact author: holger.kluck@oeaw.ac.at
  • §Contact author: samir.banik@oeaw.ac.at
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Phys. Rev. D 112, 102008 – Published 26 November, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/bb31-pgzg

Abstract

The current generation of cryogenic solid state detectors used in direct dark matter and CEνNS searches typically reach energy thresholds of O(10)  eV for nuclear recoils. For a reliable calibration in this energy regime a method has been proposed, providing monoenergetic nuclear recoils at low energies ∼100  eV–1  keV. In this work we report on the observation of a peak at (1113.6−6.5+6.5) eV in the data of an Al2O3 crystal in CRESST-III, which was irradiated with neutrons from an AmBe calibration source. We attribute this monoenergetic peak to the radiative capture of thermal neutrons on Al27 and the subsequent deexcitation via single γ emission. We compare the measured results with the outcome of Geant4 simulations and investigate the possibility to make use of this effect for the energy calibration of Al2O3 detectors at low energies. We further investigate the possibility of a shift in the expected energy scale of this effect caused by the creation of defects in the target crystal.

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Phys. Rev. D 112, 102008– Published 26 November, 2025
  • Received 6 June 2025
  • Accepted 29 October 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Open access publication funded by the Max Planck Society.

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