Speaker
Description
High-purity Germanium (HPGe) detectors have a long history of use in the search for the hypothesized neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ) of $^{76}$Ge. LEGEND is a phased search for 0νββ using HPGe detectors enriched in the double beta decay isotope $^{76}$Ge, with the goal of an ultimate discovery sensitivity to a 0νββ half-life beyond 10$^{28}$ years. The first phase, LEGEND-200, located at LNGS, Italy, is presently acquiring physics data, and aims to acquire 1 tonne-year of exposure. The Inverted Coaxial (IC) Point Contact detectors were developed for the LEGEND experiment. They have a large mass of 2 - 4 kg, excellent energy resolution, and are capable of Pulse Shape Discrimination (PSD) due to their small p$^{+}$ electrode design. IC detectors will be the baseline technology for the future LEGEND-1000 phase, and are currently operating in LEGEND-200 alongside other detector geometries. In this talk, we’ll briefly discuss the signal formation in HPGe detectors, the detector geometries used in the LEGEND-200 experiment, their fabrication process, and the energy resolution and PSD performance observed in LEGEND-200.
This work is supported by the U.S. DOE, and the NSF, the LANL, ORNL and LBNL LDRD programs; the European ERC and Horizon programs; the German DFG, BMBF, and MPG; the Italian INFN; the Polish NCN and MNiSW; the Czech MEYS; the Slovak APVV; the Swiss SNF; the UK STFC; the Canadian NSERC; the LNGS and SURF facilities.