R2D2 TPC: first Xenon results

Abstract

Radial time projection chambers (TPC), already employed in the search for rare phenomena such as light Dark Matter candidate, could provide a new detection approach for the search of neutrinoless double beta decay (ββ0ν). The assessment of the performances of such a detector for ββ0ν search is indeed the goal of the Rare Decays with Radial Detector (R2D2) R&D. Promising results operating a spherical TPC with argon up to 1 bar have been published in 2021. Supplementary measurements were recently taken extending the gas pressure range up to 3 bar. In addition, a comparison between two detector geometries, namely spherical (SPC for spherical proportional counter) and cylindrical (CPC for cylindrical proportional counter), was performed. Using a relatively simple gas purification system the CPC detector was also operated with xenon at 1 bar: an energy resolution of 1.4% full-width at half-maximum was achieved for drift distances up to 17 cm. Much lower resolution was observed with the SPC. These results are presented in this article.