Energy resolution and particle tracking in high-pressure xenon with an electroluminescent time projection chamber
Joshua Renner, University of California, Berkeley
We present results from the NEXT1-LBNL Time Projection Chamber (TPC), a high-pressure xenon gas detector built for research and development as a prototype for a larger detector, NEXT-100, that will be stationed in the underground laboratory CANFRANC to search for neutrinoless double-beta decay. The focus of the present detector is the achievement of the best possible energy resolution and particle tracking capabilities in high-pressure xenon. The detector uses 19 photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) to perform electroluminescent readout at pressures up to 20 bar. We describe typical signals and the current energy resolution obtained in the chamber with gamma-ray calibration sources. Such studies will assist in evaluating high-pressure xenon as a potential candidate medium for detectors used in monitoring and safeguarding nuclear materials.
Abstract Author(s): J. Renner, D. Chan, W. Dickey, F. Dopfel, A. Goldschmidt, D. Hogan, D. Kiang, T. Miller, D. Nygren, D. Shuman, J. Siegrist, H. Spieler, and T. Weber; for the NEXT Collaboration