A High Pressure Xenon Time Projection Chamber for Double Beta Decay

Author: O'Callaghan-Hay, Bridget Mary Geraldine

Year: 1989

Degree: Dissertation (Ph.D.)

Advisor: Boehm, Felix H.

Committee Members: Boehm, Felix H.; Vogel, Petr; Kavanagh, Ralph William; Weinstein, Alan Jay

Option: Physics

DOI: 10.7907/eaeq-k834

Abstract

This thesis describes the design, construction and performance of a high-pressure, xenon, gas time projection chamber (TPC) for the study of double beta decay in ¹³⁶Xe. The TPC when operating at 5 atm can accommodate 28 moles of 60% enriched ¹³⁶Xe. The TPC has operated as a detector at Caltech since 1986. It is capable of reconstructing a charged particle trajectory and can easily distinguish between different kinds of charged particles. A gas purification and xenon gas recovery system were developed. The electronics for the 338 channels of readout was developed along with a data acquistion system. Currently, the detector is being prepared at the University of Neuchatel for installation in the low background laboratory situated in the St. Gotthard tunnel, Switzerland. In one year of runtime the detector should be sensitive to a 0ν lifetime of the order of 10²⁴ y, which corresponds to a neutrino mass in the range 0.3 to 3.3 eV.

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