Search

Over the past few decades, the scale and mass of rare-event search experiments have increased by several orders of magnitude. To maintain background-free large fiducial-volume searches, the radiopurity requirements of the materials from which these devices are constructed have improved by similar factors. High-purity germanium spectroscopy has long-been the workhorse of material screening and selection, providing information on trace radioactive gamma-ray-emitting impurities in the bulk of materials. The next generation of direct dark matter and neutrinoless double beta decay experiments demand the development of additional assay techniques to provide a more complete understanding of the full uranium (U) and thorium (Th) decay chains, including knowledge of alpha-emitting surface depositions. In this proceeding I highlight the challenging radiopurity requirements for the next generation of rare-event search experiments, as well as the extensive UK-based material-assay infrastructure in place to address these demands. Where requirements exceed current capability, additional R&D is needed. I will summarise where this R&D is already underway across the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]