Chemical purification of molybdenum samples for the NEMO 3 experiment

Abstract Most currently, viable double beta decay experiments require highly enriched isotopic sources. These sources must be extraordinarily free of radioactive contamination. The double beta decay experiment NEMO 3 will study 100 Mo, for which physical and chemical purification techniques have been investigated. The success of the chemical purification process is discussed in the context of ultra-low background, high-purity germanium spectrometer measurements.