Latest results of NEMO-3 experiment and present status of SuperNEMO

Abstract

The NEMO-3 experiment looked for neutrinoless double beta decay processes from 2003 to 2011 at the Modane Underground Laboratory. Seven isotopes were studied by the simultaneous recording of the energy and track of the event, standing out 100Mo and 82Se since they were the most massive ones. No evidence for neutrinoless double beta decay has been observed, leading to obtain limits on the effective neutrino mass that are among the best to date, specially for the mentioned isotopes.In addition to the results regarding the effective neutrino mass, NEMO-3 results have shown the physics potential of the tracking + calorimetry technique for the neutrinoless double beta decay search, specially in terms of background rejection capabilities in the energy region of interest. For this reason, the SuperNEMO experiment has been conceived using this technique as one of the so-called new generation experiments. SuperNEMO is at present under construction after a R&D phase (started in 2007) which concluded that all the requirements are achievable. First phase is the construction of a first module that has been started in 2012 and will finish during 2015, when the data taking is expected to start.A summary of the latest NEMO-3 results, as well as the present status of the SuperNEMO progress (which includes, for example, the development of outstanding detectors for materials radiopurity and radon concentration measurements), will be presented, together with collaboration prospects about the installation, commissioning and operation of the experiment.