PT Journal
AU Gil, A
   Diaz, J
   Gomez-Cadenas, JJ
   Herrero, V
   Rodriguez, J
   Serra, L
   Toledo, J
   Esteve, R
   Monzo, JM
   Monrabal, F
   Yahlali, N
TI Front-end electronics for accurate energy measurement of double beta decays
SO Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research A
JI Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A
PY 2012
BP 407
EP 409
VL 695
DI 10.1016/j.nima.2011.11.024
LA English
DE Front-end electronics; Xenon gas TPC; Energy measurement; Electroluminiscence; Double-beta decay
AB NEXT, a double beta decay experiment that will operate in Canfranc Underground Laboratory (Spain), aims at measuring the neutrinoless double-beta decay of the 136Xe isotope using a TPC filled with enriched Xenon gas at high pressure operated in electroluminescence mode. One technological challenge of the experiment is to achieve resolution better than 1% in the energy measurement using a plane of UV sensitive photomultipliers readout with appropriate custom-made front-end electronics. The front-end is designed to be sensitive to the single photo-electron to detect the weak primary scintillation light produced in the chamber, and also to be able to cope with the electroluminescence signal (several hundred times higher and with a duration of microseconds). For efficient primary scintillation detection and precise energy measurement of the electroluminescent signals the front-end electronics features low noise and adequate amplification. The signal shaping provided allows the digitization of the signals at a frequency as low as 40 MHz.
ER