Design of a Multiple-Reflection Time-of-Flight Mass-Spectrometer for Barium-tagging

Abstract

The search for neutrinoless double beta decay requires increasingly advanced methods of background reduction. A bold approach to solving this problem, in experiments using Xe-136, is to extract and identify the daughter Ba-136 ion produced by double beta decay. Tagging events in this manner allows for a virtually background-free verification of double beta decay signals. Various approaches are being pursued by the nEXO collaboration to achieve Ba-tagging. A Multi-Reflection Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (MR TOF) has been designed and optimized as one of the ion-identification methods, where it will investigate the ion-extraction efficiency, as well as provide further identification of the Ba isotope. The envisioned mode of operation allows the MR TOF to achieve a quickly adjustable mass-range and resolution, with simulations suggesting that a mass-resolving power of 140,000 is within reach. This work will discuss the MR TOF design and the methods employed to simulate and optimize it.

References in corpus (11)

• Sensitivity and discovery potential of the proposed nEXO experiment to neutrinoless double beta decay
• An improved measurement of the 2νββ half-life of Xe-136 with EXO-200
• Dawning of the N=32 shell closure seen through precision mass measurements of neutron-rich titanium isotopes
• nEXO Pre-Conceptual Design Report
• First direct mass measurements of nuclides around $Z=100$ with a Multireflection Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrograph
• Demonstration of Single Barium Ion Sensitivity for Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay using Single Molecule Fluorescence Imaging
• First Online Mass Measurements of Isobar Chains via Multi-Reflection Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrograph Coupled with GARIS-II
• Measurements of the ion fraction and mobility of alpha and beta decay products in liquid xenon using EXO-200
• An RF-only ion-funnel for extraction from high-pressure gases
• Spectroscopy of Ba and Ba${}^{+}$ deposits in solid xenon for barium tagging in nEXO
• An apparatus to manipulate and identify individual Ba ions from bulk liquid Xe

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Characterization of a Spatially Resolved Multi-Element Laser Ablation Ion Source
• 'Searching for a needle in a haystack;' A Ba-tagging approach for an upgraded nEXO experiment
• Canadian Contributions to the Search for Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay
• First high-precision direct determination of the atomic mass of a superheavy nuclide