Design, characterization and installation of the NEXT-100 cathode and electroluminescence regions
Abstract
NEXT-100 is currently being constructed at the Laboratorio Subterr\'aneo de Canfranc in the Spanish Pyrenees and will search for neutrinoless double beta decay using a high-pressure gaseous time projection chamber (TPC) with 100 kg of xenon. Charge amplification is carried out via electroluminescence (EL) which is the process of accelerating electrons in a high electric field region causing secondary scintillation of the medium proportional to the initial charge. The NEXT-100 EL and cathode regions are made from tensioned hexagonal meshes of 1 m diameter. This paper describes the design, characterization, and installation of these parts for NEXT-100. Simulations of the electric field are performed to model the drift and amplification of ionization electrons produced in the detector under various EL region alignments and rotations. Measurements of the electrostatic breakdown voltage in air characterize performance under high voltage conditions and identify breakdown points. The electrostatic deflection of the mesh is quantified and fit to a first-principles mechanical model. Measurements were performed with both a standalone test EL region and with the NEXT-100 EL region before its installation in the detector. Finally, we describe the parts as installed in NEXT-100, following their deployment in Summer 2023.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2311.03528,
title = {Design, characterization and installation of the NEXT-100 cathode and electroluminescence regions},
author = {NEXT Collaboration and K. Mistry and L. Rogers and B. J. P. Jones and B. Munson and L. Norman and C. Adams and H. Almazán and V. Álvarez and B. Aparicio and A. I. Aranburu and L. Arazi and I. J. Arnquist and F. Auria-Luna and S. Ayet and C. D. R. Azevedo and K. Bailey and F. Ballester and M. del Barrio-Torregrosa and A. Bayo and J. M. Benlloch-Rodríguez and F. I. G. M. Borges and A. Brodolin and N. Byrnes and S. Cárcel and A. Castillo and S. Cebrián and E. Church and L. Cid and C. A. N. Conde and T. Contreras and F. P. Cossío and E. Dey and G. Díaz and T. Dickel and C. Echevarria and M. Elorza and J. Escada and R. Esteve and R. Felkai and L. M. P. Fernandes and P. Ferrario and A. L. Ferreira and F. W. Foss and E. D. C. Freitas and Z. Freixa and J. J. Gómez-Cadenas and R. González and J. W. R. Grocott and R. Guenette and K. Hafidi and J. Hauptman and C. A. O. Henriques and J. A. Hernando~Morata and P. Herrero-Gómez and V. Herrero and C. Hervés Carrete and Y. Ifergan and L. Larizgoitia and A. Larumbe and P. Lebrun and F. Lopez and N. López-March and R. Madigan and R. D. P. Mano and A. P. Marques and J. Martín-Albo and G. Martínez-Lema and M. Martínez-Vara and Z. E. Meziani and R. L. Miller and J. Molina-Canteras and F. Monrabal and C. M. B. Monteiro and F. J. Mora and K. E. Navarro and P. Novella and A. Nuñez and D. R. Nygren and E. Oblak and D. Oliver and J. Palacio and B. Palmeiro and A. Para and I. Parmaksiz and J. Pelegrin and M. Pérez Maneiro and M. Querol and A. B. Redwine and J. Renner and I. Rivilla and C. Rogero and B. Romeo and C. Romo-Luque and F. P. Santos and J. M. F. dos Santos and M. Seemann and I. Shomroni and A. Simón and S. R. Soleti and M. Sorel and J. Soto-Oton and J. M. R. Teixeira and J. F. Toledo and J. Torrent and A. Trettin and A. Usón and J. F. C. A. Veloso and J. Waiton and A. Yubero},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2311.03528},
year = {2024}
}
Comments
35 pages, 25 Figures, update includes accepted version in JINST