Diamond detectors for high-temperature transactinide chemistry experiments

Here, we present the fabrication details and functional tests of diamond-based α-spectroscopic sensors, dedicated for high-temperature experiments, targeting the chemistry of transactinide elements. Direct heating studies with this sensor material, revealed a current upper temperature threshold for a safe α-spectroscopic operation of Tdet=453K. Up to this temperature, the diamond sensor could be operated in a stable manner over long time periods of the order of days. A satisfying resolution of ≈50keVFWHM was maintained throughout all conducted measurements. However, exceeding the mentioned temperature limit led to a pronounced spectroscopic degradation in the range of 453−473K, thereby preventing any further α-spectroscopic application. These findings are in full agreement with available literature data. The presented detector development generally enables the chemical investigation of more short-lived and less volatile transactinide elements and their compounds, yet unreachable with the currently employed silicon-based solid state sensors. In a second part, the design, construction, and α-spectroscopic performance of a 4-segmented diamond detector, dedicated and used for transactinide element research, is given as an application example.