Development and characterisation of high-resolution microcalorimeter detectors for the ECHo-100k experiment

TL;DR

This paper reports the development and characterization of advanced high-resolution microcalorimeter detectors designed for the ECHo-100k experiment, aiming to precisely measure the neutrino mass via Ho-163 electron capture spectrum analysis.

Contribution

It introduces a new generation of magnetic microcalorimeters with optimized design for high energy resolution, wafer-scale implantation, and multiplexed read-out, tailored for the ECHo-100k experiment.

Findings

Detectors meet and surpass ECHo-100k requirements

Successful optimization of detector design and operation

First characterization results demonstrate high performance

Abstract

The goal of the ECHo experiment is a direct determination of the absolute scale of the neutrino mass by the analysis of the end-point region of the Ho-163 electron capture (EC) spectrum. The results of the first phase of the experiment, ECHo-1k, have paved the way for the current phase, ECHo-100k, which aims at a sensitivity below 2 eV on the effective electron neutrino mass. In order to reach this goal, a new generation of high-resolution magnetic microcalorimeters with embedded Ho-163 have been developed and characterised. The design has been optimised to meet all the challenging requirements of the ECHo-100k experimental phase, such as excellent energy resolution, wafer scale implantation and multi-chip operation with multiplexing read-out. We present the optimisation studies, the final design of the detector array and the first characterisation studies. The results demonstrate that the detectors fully match and even surpass the requirements for the current experimental phase, ECHo-100k.