Ionization efficiency study for low energy nuclear recoils in germanium

We used the internal conversion (E0E0 transition) of germanium-72 to indirectly measure the low energy nuclear recoils of germanium. Together with a reliable Monte Carlo package, in which we implement the internal conversion process, the data was compared to the Lindhard (k = 0.159) and Barker–Mei models. A shape analysis indicates that both models agree well with data in the region of interest within 4%. The most probable value (MPV) of the nuclear recoils obtained from the shape analysis is 17.5 ± 0.12 (sys) ±0.035 (stat) keV with an average path-length of 0.014 μμm.