Speaker
Description
The CRESST (Cryogenic Rare Event Search with Superconducting Thermometers) experiment aims to directly detect dark matter (DM) particles via their elastic scattering off target nuclei in scintillating CaWO$_4$ crystals.
One of the stable oxygen isotopes, $^{17}$O, has a nuclear spin of 5/2. Therefore, CaWO$_4$ crystals can be used for spin-independent and spin-dependent DM searches. Due to its low natural abundance of 0.038$\%$, a $^{17}$O enrichment of the CaWO$_4$ crystals will significantly increase the sensitivity of CRESST to spin-dependent DM interactions.
The CaWO$_4$ crystals used in CRESST have been grown in-house at the Technische Universität München (TUM) for many years, and have a lower level of radioactive impurities than any commercially available crystals.
Based on the experience in crystal growth at TUM, a process for the enrichment of CaWO$_4$ with $^{17}$O was developed. Two CaWO$_4$ crystals were enriched and their $^{17}$O content was measured by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy at the Universität Leipzig. This contribution presents the concept and first results of the $^{17}$O enrichment and sensitivity predictions for the spin-dependent DM search with enriched CaWO$_4$ crystals in CRESST.
| Submitted on behalf of a Collaboration? | Yes |
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