NEXT-MM is a general-purpose high pressure (10 bar, $sim25$ l active volume) Xenon-based TPC, read out in charge mode with an 8 cm $times$8 cm-segmented 700 cm$^2$ plane (1152 ch) of the latest microbulk-Micromegas technology. It has been recently co
mmissioned at University of Zaragoza as part of the R&D of the NEXT $0 ubetabeta$ experiment, although the experiments first stage is currently being built based on a SiPM/PMT-readout concept relying on electroluminescence. Around 2 million events were collected during the last months, stemming from the low energy $gamma$-rays emitted by a $^{241}$Am source when interacting with the Xenon gas ($epsilon$ = 26, 30, 59.5 keV). The localized nature of such events above atmospheric pressure, the long drift times, as well as the possibility to determine their production time from the associated $alpha$ particle in coincidence, allow the extraction of primordial properties of the TPC filling gas, namely the drift velocity, diffusion and attachment coefficients. In this work we focus on the little explored combination of Xe and trimethylamine (TMA) for which, in particular, such properties are largely unknown. This gas mixture offers potential advantages over pure Xenon when aimed at Rare Event Searches, mainly due to its Penning characteristics, wave-length shifting properties and reduced diffusion, and it is being actively investigated by our collaboration. The chamber is currently operated at 2.7 bar, as an intermediate step towards the envisaged 10 bar. We report here its performance as well as a first implementation of the calibration procedures that have allowed the extension of the previously reported energy resolution to the whole readout plane (10.6%FWHM@30keV).
NEXT-DEMO is a high-pressure xenon gas TPC which acts as a technological test-bed and demonstrator for the NEXT-100 neutrinoless double beta decay experiment. In its current configuration the apparatus fully implements the NEXT-100 design concept. Th
is is an asymmetric TPC, with an energy plane made of photomultipliers and a tracking plane made of silicon photomultipliers (SiPM) coated with TPB. The detector in this new configuration has been used to reconstruct the characteristic signature of electrons in dense gas. Demonstrating the ability to identify the MIP and blob regions. Moreover, the SiPM tracking plane allows for the definition of a large fiducial region in which an excellent energy resolution of 1.82% FWHM at 511 keV has been measured (a value which extrapolates to 0.83% at the xenon Qbetabeta).
