Hamburg 2016 – scientific programme

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T: Fachverband Teilchenphysik

T 36: Neutrinoloser Doppelbeta-Zerfall II

T 36.4: Talk

Monday, February 29, 2016, 17:35–17:50, VMP9 SR 07

Silicon Photomultipliers for the detection of VUV scintillation light in LXe for the nEXO experiment — •Tobias Ziegler, Ako Jamil, Reimund Bayerlein, Jürgen Hößl, Patrick Hufschmidt, Judith Schneider, Michael Wagenpfeil, Gerrit Wrede, Gisela Anton, and Thilo Michel — Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics, Erlangen 91058, Deutschland

The future nEXO (next Enriched Xenon Observatory) experiment with a single phase TPC design will use about 4  m² of SiPMs for the detection of the VUV (vacuum ultraviolet) scintillation light (λ = 175 nm) from LXe to search for the neutrinoless double beta (0νββ) decay of ¹³⁶Xe. Commercially available SiPMs are not sensitive to ultraviolet light, because of an antireflective coating on top of the sensitive area. In addition, they suffer from relatively high dark count rate at room temperature and correlated avalanches, such as crosstalk and afterpulsing. The core criteria, for having an energy resolution of about 1% (σ) at the Q-value of the 0νββ decay of ¹³⁶Xe (2457.8 keV), are a photon detection efficiency (PDE) of at least 15% at 175 nm and a correlated avalanche probability (CAP) of less than 20% at -100 ^∘C. We considered different approaches for optimizing both PDE and CAP. These improved SiPMs from several vendors were tested in different test setups at temperatures of about -100 ^∘C with respect to the criteria required in the nEXO experiment.