Development and Initial Performance of an Upgraded NaI(Tl) Crystal Encapsulation for COSINE-100U
The COSINE-100 experiment was designed to test the DAMA/LIBRA annual-modulation claim using low-background NaI(Tl) detectors. For the COSINE-100U upgrade, we developed a new crystal-encapsulation system to increase light-collection efficiency while preserving long-term detector stability, thereby improving sensitivity to low-mass dark matter. The upgraded design eliminates the quartz optical windows used in COSINE-100 and directly couples the photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) to the crystal end faces through 2-mm-thick silicone optical pads, thereby reducing the number of optical interfaces. For the larger crystals, the crystal edges were beveled to guide scintillation light more efficiently onto 3-inch high-quantum-efficiency PMTs. The performance study uses 2462~h (102.6~days) of room-temperature COSINE-100U data and, for direct background comparisons, reference COSINE-100 data acquired near the end of operation. 698~h (29.1~days) of COSINE-100 data acquired near the end of operation in March 2023. All eight crystals showed higher light yields than in COSINE-100, with values ranging from 15.8 to 27.7~p.e./keV; six crystals exceeded 20~p.e./keV. The measured bulk-$\alpha$ rates were lower than the COSINE-100 values and consistent with the expected time evolution of internal $^{210}$Pb, while the 1--2-MeV surface-$\alpha$ rates were substantially reduced. The upgrade also restored two crystals that had previously been excluded from the COSINE-100 physics analysis because of poor optical performance. Independent validation tests demonstrated that the encapsulation remains mechanically robust and optically stable during long-term immersion in liquid scintillator at low temperature. This paper presents the encapsulation design, the room-temperature detector performance, and the reduction in surface-related backgrounds achieved at the Yemilab facility.