NEXT Collaboration(Mistry, K. et al), Carcel, S., Lopez-March, N., Martin-Albo, J., Novella, P., Querol, M., et al. (2024). Design, characterization and installation of the NEXT-100 cathode and electroluminescence regions. J. Instrum., 19(2), P02007–36pp.
Abstract: NEXT -100 is currently being constructed at the Laboratorio Subterraneo 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 -pr inciples 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.
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Andreotti, M. et al, Cervera-Villanueva, A., Garcia-Peris, M. a., Martin-Albo, J., Querol, M., Rocabado, J., et al. (2024). Cryogenic characterization of Hamamatsu HWB MPPCs for the DUNE photon detection system. J. Instrum., 19(1), T01007–27pp.
Abstract: The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a next generation experiment aimed to study neutrino oscillation. Its long-baseline configuration will exploit a Near Detector (ND) and a Far Detector (FD) located at a distance of similar to 1300 km. The FD will consist of four Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LAr TPC) modules. A Photon Detection System (PDS) will be used to detect the scintillation light produced inside the detector after neutrino interactions. The PDS will be based on light collectors coupled to Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs). Different photosensor technologies have been proposed and produced in order to identify the best samples to fullfill the experiment requirements. In this paper, we present the procedure and results of a validation campaign for the Hole Wire Bonding (HWB) MPPCs samples produced by Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. (HPK) for the DUNE experiment, referring to them as 'SiPMs'. The protocol for a characterization at cryogenic temperature (77 K) is reported. We present the down-selection criteria and the results obtained during the selection campaign undertaken, along with a study of the main sources of noise of the SiPMs including the investigation of a newly observed phenomenon in this field.
Keywords: Cryogenic detectors; Photon detectors for UV, visible and IR photons (solid-state); Photon detectors for UV, visible and IR photons (solid-state) (PIN diodes, APDs, Si-PMTs, G-APDs, CCDs, EBCCDs, EMCCDs, CMOS imagers, etc)
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Contreras, T., Martins, A., Stanford, C., Escobar, C. O., Guenette, R., Stancari, M., et al. (2023). A method to characterize metalenses for light collection applications. J. Instrum., 18(9), T09004–11pp.
Abstract: Metalenses and metasurfaces are promising emerging technologies that could improve light collection in light collection detectors, concentrating light on small area photodetectors such as silicon photomultipliers. Here we present a detailed method to characterize metalenses to assess their efficiency at concentrating monochromatic light coming from a wide range of incidence angles, not taking into account their imaging quality.
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Martins, A., da Mota, A. F., Stanford, C., Contreras, T., Martin-Albo, J., Kish, A., et al. (2024). Simple strategy for the simulation of axially symmetric large-area metasurfaces. J. Opt. Soc. Am. B, 41(5), 1261–1269.
Abstract: Metalenses are composed of nanostructures for focusing light and have been widely explored in many exciting applications. However, their expanding dimensions pose simulation challenges. We propose a method to simulate metalenses in a timely manner using vectorial wave and ray tracing models. We sample the metalens's radial phase gradient and locally approximate the phase profile by a linear phase response. Each sampling point is modeled as a binary blazed grating, employing the chosen nanostructure, to build a transfer function set. The metalens transmission or reflection is then obtained by applying the corresponding transfer function to the incoming field on the regions surrounding each sampling point. Fourier optics is used to calculate the scattered fields under arbitrary illumination for the vectorial wave method, and a Monte Carlo algorithm is used in the ray tracing formalism. We validated our method against finite -difference time domain simulations at 632 nm, and we were able to simulate metalenses larger than 3000 wavelengths in diameter on a personal computer.
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NEXT Collaboration, Carcel, S., Carrion, J. V., Felkai, R., Kekic, M., Lopez-March, N., et al. (2020). Mitigation of backgrounds from cosmogenic Xe-137 in xenon gas experiments using He-3 neutron capture. J. Phys. G, 47(7), 075001–17pp.
Abstract: Xe-136 is used as the target medium for many experiments searching for 0 nu beta beta. Despite underground operation, cosmic muons that reach the laboratory can produce spallation neutrons causing activation of detector materials. A potential background that is difficult to veto using muon tagging comes in the form of Xe-137 created by the capture of neutrons on Xe-136. This isotope decays via beta decay with a half-life of 3.8 min and a Q(beta) of similar to 4.16 MeV. This work proposes and explores the concept of adding a small percentage of He-3 to xenon as a means to capture thermal neutrons and reduce the number of activations in the detector volume. When using this technique we find the contamination from Xe-137 activation can be reduced to negligible levels in tonne and multi-tonne scale high pressure gas xenon neutrinoless double beta decay experiments running at any depth in an underground laboratory.
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