Read-out Electronics and Signal Processing in GERDA and Future Prospects

• Main Author: D’Andrea Valerio
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: EDP Sciences 2020-01-01
• Series: EPJ Web of Conferences
• Online Access: https://www.epj-conferences.org/articles/epjconf/pdf/2020/01/epjconf_animma2019_01006.pdf

The GERDA experiment searches for the neutrinoless double beta decay of 76Ge. The experiment is using 36 kg of high-purity germanium detectors, simultaneously as source and detector, deployed into ultra-pure cryogenic liquid argon. GERDA is one the leading experiment in the field, reporting the highest sensitivity on the half-life of 0νββ decay with 1.1·1026 yr, the lowest background index with 6·10−4 cts/(keV·kg·yr) and an excellent energy resolution of 0.12% (FWHM). The search for the 0νββ decay of the isotope 76Ge will be continued in the next years by the LEGEND-200 experiment, that aims to reach a sensitivity up to 1027 yr using 200 kg of enriched HPGe detectors. The preparation of this experiment already started. The basic concepts of the GERDA read-out electronics, obeying both the severe requirements of ultra high radio-purity and cryogenic operation, are summarized. For LEGEND-200 a new electronics design, including a separation of the preamplifier in two stages, has been already designed and realized: results from tests are presented. Additionally, we will introduce the digital signal processing adopted for the energy reconstruction in GERDA and a new implementation of an optimum digital filter by means of the DPLMS method. This method are discussed and the first application to GERDA data are presented.