The search for neutrinoless double beta decay requires increasingly advanced methods of background reduction. A bold approach to solving this problem, in experiments using Xe-136, is to extract and identify the daughter Ba-136 ion produced by double beta decay. Tagging events in this manner allows for a virtually background-free verification of double beta decay signals. Various approaches are being pursued by the nEXO collaboration to achieve Ba-tagging. A Multi-Reflection Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (MR TOF) has been designed and optimized as one of the ion-identification methods, where it will investigate the ion-extraction efficiency, as well as provide further identification of the Ba isotope. The envisioned mode of operation allows the MR TOF to achieve a quickly adjustable mass-range and resolution, with simulations suggesting that a mass-resolving power of 140,000 is within reach. This work will discuss the MR TOF design and the methods employed to simulate and optimize it.
@article{arxiv.1910.01667,
title = {Design of a Multiple-Reflection Time-of-Flight Mass-Spectrometer for Barium-tagging},
author = {K. Murray and J. Dilling and R. Gornea and Y. Ito and T. Koffas and A. A. Kwiatkowski and Y. Lan and M. P. Reiter and V. Varentsov and T. Brunner},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1910.01667},
year = {2019}
}