| |
 |
UNIVERSITY OF BUCHAREST
FACULTY OF PHYSICS Guest
2024-11-22 2:24 |
 |
|
|
|
Conference: Bucharest University Faculty of Physics 2010 Meeting
Section: Atomic and Molecular Physics; Astrophysics
Title:
Studies of MicroMegas performances in pure Xenon and at high pressure for NEXT experiment
Authors:
Catalin Balan (1), Pedro Hugo Ferreira Natal da Luz (2), Joaquim Marques Ferreira dos Santos (2)
Affiliation:
(1) University from Bucharest, Faculty of Physics, Romania
(2) GIAN - Grupo de Instrumentação Atómica e Nuclear, University from Coimbra, Physics Department, Portugal
E-mail
mircea_bercu2@yahoo.com
Keywords:
noble gas detector, Micromegas, gain, resolution, high pressure
Abstract:
This work presents studies of MicroMegas experimental performances, used in the NEXT project for neutrino-less double beta decay searches. We are planning to use high-pressure Xenon gas in a novel detection concept based on a Time Projection Chamber (TPC). Detectors based on the MicroMegas technology are an example of a new generation of detectors and, its homogeneity of the gain over large surfaces of the readout plane makes it one of the micro-pattern concepts with better prospects for scaling up. Xenon, continuously purified, easily re-circulated in the specific experimental installation at pressures from 1 to 10 bars, the only one, among the noble gases, naturally enriched with ββ0ν candidate emitter, 136Xe, allowed us to read very good signals for charge and scintillation pulses for each set of measurements, using 109Cd X-rays (22.1keV) interacting in Xenon and directly interacting in the LAAPD (large area photo-diodes). The number of photons produced per drifting primary electron increase with pressure, for 1 to 5 bars, and then decrease until 10 bars. A lot of graphical representations (dependences of effective gain and very good energy resolution of the detector, as a function of voltage applied across the MicroMegas) are concluding these results, depicting that MicroMegas can be operated in a stable way in pure Xenon and at pressures up to 10 bars. It has shown good performances in terms of gain and resolution.
|
|
|
|