SuperNemo

The SuperNEMO detector is due to be completed in 2024 in the Modane underground laboratory, enabling it to start collecting data. Its aim is to demonstrate the feasibility of measuring the rare process of double beta decay without neutrino emission, with a level of sensitivity and background rejection never before achieved with this type of detector. SuperNEMO is based on a detection technique that combines a trajectograph and a calorimeter to allow the complete measurement of the kinematics of the electrons produced by the process in question and thus determine its properties. This technique, in which thin sheets of double beta emitting source are sandwiched between volumes of drift chambers and a calorimeter, offers a number of advantages over other existing approaches, particularly for the identification and rejection of background noise.
The SuperNEMO demonstrator will explore the potential of this technique, using just over 6 kg of Selenium as a double beta source. The LAPP group played an active role in the construction of this detector, helping to build the sources, develop the slow control system and analyse the data.