A new method for background rejection with surface sensitive bolometers

We report the performance of three prototype TeO2 macrobolometers, able to identify events due to energy deposited at the detector surface. This capability is obtained by thermally coupling thin active layers to the main absorber of the bolometer, and is proved by irradiating the detectors with alpha particles. This technique can be very useful in view of background study and reduction for the CUORE experiment, a next generation Double Beta Decay search based on TeO2 macrobolometers and to be installed in the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso.