Speaker
Javier Pérez Pérez
(I)
Description
The NEXT-100 time projection chamber, currently under construction, will search for neutrino-less double beta decay (bb0u) using 100-150 kg of high-pressure xenon gas enriched in the 136Xe isotope to +-90%. The detector possesses two important features for bb0u searches: very good energy resolution (better than 1% FWHM at the Q value of 136Xe) and event topological information for the distinction between signal and background.
Furthermore, the technique can be extrapolated to the ton-scale, thus allowing the full exploration of the inverted hierarchy of neutrino masses. First prototypes have been operating successfully in different laboratories.
In this talk I will discuss the main features of NEXT-100 and the prototype results concerning energy resolution, track pattern recognition and xenon gas ionization and scintillation properties obtained with a variety of radioactive sources. I will present as well the main results so far on radioactive contamination of the materials to be used in NEXT-100, including the status of the measurement campaign of its 60 low-radioactivity Photo Multipliers Hamamatsu RA11410-MOD
