Gerda, the GERmanium Detector Array experiment, is a new double beta-decay experiment which is currently under construction in the INFN National Gran Sasso Laboratory (Lngs), Italy. It is implementing a new shielding concept by operating bare Ge diodes enriched in Ge-76 in high purity liquid argon supplemented by a water shield. The aim of Gerda is to verify or refute the recent claim of discov...

This article reviews the research program and efforts for the TEXONO Collaboration on neu-trino and astro-particle physics. The " flagship " program is on reactor-based neutrino physics at the Kuo-Sheng (KS) Power Plant in Taiwan. A limit on the neutrino magnetic moment of µ ¯ νe < 1.3 × 10 −10 µ B at 90% confidence level was derived from measurements with a high purity germanium detector. Othe...

Future experiments on hypernuclear high-resolution γ-spectroscopy with high-purity germanium detectors with the FINUDA apparatus at the DAΦNE accelerator and with the PANDA apparatus at the FAIR facility require the operation of these detectors in high magnetic fields (B ≈ 1T). VEGA and Euroball cluster HPGe detectors were tested in the field provided by the ALADiN magnet at GSI. A small degrad...

In this paper we describe the development, testing, and characterization of three low-emission rate AmLi neutron sources. The sources are used to calibrate nuclear recoil response LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) dark matter experiment. sources' emission was measured using $^{3}$He proportional tubes. gamma emissions were characterized a high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector. Source-validated GEANT4 Monte Carlo...

High purity germanium (HPGe) detectors used in radionuclide assay systems such as Radionuclide Aerosol Sampler/Analyzer (RASA) systems must operate unattended for long periods of time. Currently, the performance and reliability of commercially available large (~100%) HPGe detectors are acceptable for the majority of laboratory applications. However, for remote systems designed for nuclear deton...