Hardware design and simulation for light detection in nEXO

The nEXO detector features a 5 tonne time projection chamber filled with liquid xenon enriched to 90% in the A=136 isotope. nEXO aims to detect neutrinoless double beta decay (0??ββ) of 136Xe with a 90% CL sensitivity >10²⁸ years. This talk will give an overview of the design and simulation of the light detection system for nEXO, which is the primary driver of the detector energy resolution. In particular, I will describe the overall design of the photon detection system, which will employ ~4.6 m² of vacuum ultra-violet (VUV) sensitive silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs). Simulations of the photon transport efficiency and light propagation performed with the Chroma software package will be described, along with estimates of the overall energy resolution.