Characterizing the electrostatic deflection in the NEXT-100 electroluminescence region

The NEXT-100 experiment is a neutrinoless double beta decay experiment using a high-pressure gaseous time projection chamber with electroluminescent (EL) amplification. The EL region includes two tensioned 1m diameter photoetched hexagonal mesh planes and is operated with electric fields of several tens of kV/cm. At these electric fields, the electrostatic deflection must be minimized and characterized to maintain uniformity in the gain and improve high voltage performance. This poster will present a method to measure the electrostatic deflection of the NEXT-100 EL region and study the effect of tensioning the meshes on the deflection.



Future potential upgrades of NEXT may employ the use of VUV image intensified cameras with fast timing. One possibility to improve light collection and imaging is to include a curved mirror located at one endcap of the detector. I additionally present simulations of different curved mirror types compatible in a test vessel located at University Texas at Arlington to test the viability of this configuration.