First investigation of $^{96}$Zr samples enriched by the gas-centrifuge method for the use in rare-decay studies

D. Arefev; A. S. Barabash; M. De Jesus; S. Evseev; D. Filosofov; N. Gorshkov; V. Kazalov; D. Karaivanov; T. Khussainov; O. Kochetov; D. Kushnarev; N. A. Mirzayev; A. Lubashevskiy; D. Ponomarev; A. Rakhimov; S. Rozov; K. Shakhov; N. Temerbulatova; D. Timofeev; A. Ushakov; S. Vasilyev; E. Yakushev; V. Yumatov; S. Zyryanov

arXiv · 2605.13215

First investigation of $^{96}$Zr samples enriched by the gas-centrifuge method for the use in rare-decay studies

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Abstract

For the first time, the isotope $^{96}$Zr has been produced by the gas-centrifuge method (enrichment is 88.28% and full mass of $^{96}$Zr is 179.816 g). The level of radionuclide impurities of the samples and thus their suitability for rare-event search have been investigated using three low-background HPGe detectors. The most stringent limit, obtained at sea level, on the half-life of the double beta decay of $^{96}$Zr to the $0^+_1$ excited state (1148 keV) of $^{96}$Mo has been set $T_{1/2}(0\nu+2\nu)>3.9 \times 10^{19}$ yr (90% C.L.).

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D. Arefev, A. S. Barabash, M. De Jesus, S. Evseev, D. Filosofov, N. Gorshkov, V. Kazalov, D. Karaivanov, T. Khussainov, O. Kochetov, D. Kushnarev, N. A. Mirzayev, A. Lubashevskiy, D. Ponomarev, A. Rakhimov, S. Rozov, K. Shakhov, N. Temerbulatova, D. Timofeev, A. Ushakov, S. Vasilyev, E. Yakushev, V. Yumatov, S. Zyryanov. 2026-05-13. First investigation of $^{96}$Zr samples enriched by the gas-centrifuge method for the use in rare-decay studies. https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.13215

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