The SuperNEMO collaboration has published a paper containing measurements from the BiPo-3 detector. Located in the Canfranc Underground Laboratory in Spain, BiPo-3 is a low-radioactivity detector dedicated to measuring ultra low natural radionuclide contaminations of $^{208}$Tl ($^{232}$Th chain) and $^{214}$Bi ($^{238}$U chain) in thin materials. In particular, it has looked at the thin foils of selenium-82 that will be used as a double-beta decay source in the SuperNEMO experiment. It is vital that we study these decays from natural environmental sources, which can mimic our double-beta decay signal. BiPo-3’s results will be key to understanding these background processes so that we can achieve our goal of being an ultra-low-background experiment.

You can read the BiPo-3 paper here or find it on the arXiv.

Congratulations to Pia, Héctor, Xavier, and everyone who worked hard on getting this great result.