Description and commissioning of NEXT-MM prototype: First results from operation in a Xenon-Trimethylamine gas mixture

Abstract

A technical description of NEXT-MM and its commissioning and first performance is reported. Having an active volume of ∼ 35 cm drift × 28 cm diameter, it constitutes the largest Micromegas-read TPC operated in Xenon ever constructed, made by a sectorial arrangement of the 4 largest single wafers manufactured with the Microbulk technique to date. It is equipped with a suitably pixelized readout and with a sufficiently large sensitive volume ( ∼ 23 l) so as to contain long ( ∼ 20 cm) electron tracks. First results obtained at 1 bar for Xenon and Trymethylamine (Xe-(2%)TMA) mixture are presented. The TPC can accurately reconstruct extended background tracks. An encouraging full-width half-maximum of 11.6 % was obtained for ∼ 29 keV gammas without resorting to any data post-processing. © 2014 IOP Publishing Ltd and Sissa Medialab srl.