New low radiation background material technology

Abstract

More and more experiments need materials with extremely low radioactive content. The requirements on contaminations levels are becoming so strict that "standard" techniques can not reach the sufficient sensitivity to determine if a material complies with the specifications. In this contribution I use two widely applied materials (crystals and copper) as examples to show the main issues in the achievement of a high radio-purity. Than, I present two newly developed technologies to probe bulk and surface contaminations of several materials with unprecedented sensitivity.