Pulse Shape Discrimination of Nuclear Recoil and Electron Recoil Events With a NaI(Tl) Crystal for Dark Matter Search

Abstract

In order to investigate discrimination between nuclear recoil and electron recoil events for the KIMS-NaI dark matter search experiment, we measured the pulse shapes produced by neutrons and gamma rays in a NaI(Tl) crystal. Relatively good pulse shape discrimination (PSD) power due to high light output of recently developed crystals makes it possible to test whether the annual modulation signal observed by the DAMA/LIBRA experiment is caused by nuclear recoil events. We applied the PSD to underground data taken with a 9.15 kg low-background and high-light-output NaI(Tl) crystal for 134 days. Good agreement between underground data and electron recoil events was observed.