1206.6199 (NEXT Collaboration et al.)

Design and characterization of the SiPM tracking system of the NEXT-100
demonstrator    [PDF]

NEXT Collaboration, V. Álvarez, M. Ball, F. I. G. M. Borges, S. Cárcel, J. M. Carmona, J. Castel, J. M. Catalá, S. Cebrián, A. Cervera, D. Chan, C. A. N. Conde, T. Dafni, T. H. V. T. Dias, J. Díaz, M. Egorov, R. Esteve, P. Evtoukhovitch, L. M. P. Fernandes, P. Ferrario, A. L. Ferreira, E. Ferrer-Ribas, E. D. C. Freitas, A. N. C. Garcia, V. M. Gehman, A. Gil, I. Giomataris, A. Goldschmidt, H. Gómez, J. J. Gómez-Cadenas, K. González, D. González-Díaz, R. M. Gutiérrez, J. Hauptman, J. A. Hernando Morata, D. C. Herrera, V. Herrero, F. J. Iguaz, I. G. Irastorza, V. Kalinnikov, D. Kiang, L. Labarga, I. Liubarsky, J. A. M. Lopes, D. Lorca, M. Losada, G. Luzón, A. Marí, J. Martín-Albo, A. Martínez, T. Miller, A. Moiseenko, F. Monrabal, C. M. B. Monteiro, J. M. Monzó, F. J. Mora, L. M. Moutinho, J. Muñoz Vidal, H. Natal da Luz, G. Navarro, M. Nebot, D. Nygren, C. A. B. Oliveira, R. Palma, J. Pérez, J. L. Pérez Aparicio, J. Renner, L. Ripoll, A. Rodríguez, J. Rodríguez, F. P. Santos, J. M. F. dos Santos, L. Segui, L. Serra, D. Shuman, C. Sofka, M. Sorel, J. F. Toledo, A. Tomás, J. Torrent, Z. Tsamalaidze, D. Vázquez, E. Velicheva, J. F. C. A. Veloso, J. A. Villar, R. C. Webb, T. Weber, J. White, N. Yahlali

NEXT-100 is a new experiment to search for neutrinoless double-beta decay of the Xe-136 isotope using a TPC filled with a 100 kg of high-pressure gaseous xenon with 90% isotopic enrichment. The experiment will take place at the Laboratorio Subterr\'aneo de Canfranc (LSC), Spain. NEXT-100 uses electroluminescence (EL) technology for high energy resolution measurements. The gaseous xenon in the TPC allows additionally to record the tracks of the two beta particles, expected to have up to 30 cm length at 10 bar pressure. A full 3D sampling of the space points along the event tracks, using an optical readout system of the EL light, enables the identification of the double-beta events by means of a pattern recognition algorithm. In this paper, the SiPM-based tracking concept of NEXT-100 and its implementation in the demonstrator prototype NEXT-DEMO are presented. The characterization of the SiPM system and its readout electronics are described and shown to meet the experiment's requirements for the optimal recording of the double-beta tracks. The NEXT-100 tracking system promises to be a competitive and cost-effective alternative to 3D charge readouts for a variety of applications.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1206.6199