High-pressure xenon gas TPC for neutrino-less double-beta decay in 136 Xe: Progress toward the goal of 1% FWHM energy resolution Azriel Goldschmidt 1 , Tom Miller 1 , David Nygren 1 , Joshua Renner 1,2 , Derek Shuman 1 , Helmuth Spieler 1 , James White 3 1 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 2 University of California, Berkeley 3 Texas A&M University IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium October 26, 2011 for the NEXT Collaboration
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High-pressure xenon gas TPC for neutrino-less double-beta decay in 136Xe: Progress toward the
goal of 1% FWHM energy resolution
Azriel Goldschmidt1, Tom Miller1, David Nygren1, Joshua Renner1,2, Derek Shuman1, Helmuth Spieler1, James White3
1Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory2University of California, Berkeley
3Texas A&M University
IEEE Nuclear Science SymposiumOctober 26, 2011
for the NEXT Collaboration
Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay (0νββ)
136 Xe 136 Ba2e-
Would establish Majorana nature of neutrinos
Would violate conservation of lepton number
Detection requires good energy resolution and background elimination
LBNL prototype to establish proof of concept for the 0νββ experiment NEXT; uses electroluminescent readout
An electroluminescent TPC is divided into several key regions
Electroluminescence
Drift EL
Buffer Regions
Incident particle deposits energy, producing ionization (S2) and scintillation (S1)
Electroluminescence
Ed
Electrons drift in an electric field to a narrow region of high field
E EL
Electroluminescence
Ed
The xenon medium scintillates as the electrons traverse the EL gap; electrons gain enough energy to excite but not ionize xenon atoms
E EL
Electroluminescence
Ed
The amount of light (S2) detected determines the energy of the incident particle
E EL
Electroluminescence
A High-Pressure Xenon TPC
19-PMT Array
3mm EL Gap8cm Drift
Region
10L Stainless Steel Vessel
*Drawing by Robin LaFever
A High-Pressure Xenon TPC
EL Grid
PMT Array Full Chamber and Gas System
- PMTs are read out by 3 Struck SIS3302 ADCs
Waveforms
S1 S2
Waveforms
S1 S2
P ~16 bar, calibrated to 662 keV Cs peak
137Cs Energy Spectrum
Drift time determined as delay between S1 start time and averaged S2 time
Corrected by applying an exponential factor exp(t/τ)
Attachment Losses (O2, H
2O)
τ = 5.8 ms
PMT signals weighted according to location to determine x-y position
Axis calibrated according to size of hexagonal pattern of events (inset)
[1] D. Nygren. Nucl. Instr. Meth. A, vol 603, 337 (2009).[2] A. Bolotnikov and B. Ramsey. Nucl. Instr. Meth. A, vol 396, 360 (1997).
Compare with 1.04% fit
Search for neutrinoless double-beta decay
100 kg of xenon, enriched to 90% 136Xe
To operate with EL + Si photomultiplier tracking(see poster by M. Ball in session NP5.S)
To be stationed at Canfranc Underground Laboratory (LSC), Spain
NEXT: Neutrino Experiment with a Xenon TPC
This work was supported by the Director, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231.
J. Renner acknowledges the support of a DOE NNSA SSGF Fellowship, grant number DE-FC52-08NA28752.