Speaker
Description
BINGO is a technology demonstrator dedicated to the development and validation of novel background suppression techniques for cryogenic calorimetric searches for neutrinoless double beta decay ($0\nu\beta\beta$). The experiment targets a background index at the level of $10^{-5}$ counts/(keV$\cdot$kg$\cdot$yr), paving the way toward a nearly background-free tonne-scale search using the isotopes $^{100}$Mo and $^{130}$Te.
The BINGO design combines several innovative approaches to drastically reduce background contributions. First, a new detector architecture minimizes the exposed surface area of passive materials in the detector array by more than an order of magnitude compared to previous-generation experiments. Second, the detector core is surrounded by a compact array of BGO scintillating crystals operated as an active cryogenic veto system to reject external backgrounds. Third, enhanced Neganov–Trofimov–Luke (NTL) light detectors are being developed to suppress pile-up background in $^{100}$Mo-based detectors and to provide efficient $\alpha/\beta$ discrimination for TeO$_2$ bolometers.
A dedicated cryogenic infrastructure has been installed and commissioned at the Modane Underground Laboratory (LSM), providing a low-background environment for detector integration and operation. Prototype detector arrays are currently under study to validate the proposed technologies and optimize the final experimental configuration. A first physics campaign with the MINI-BINGO setup is foreseen in fall 2026.
We present the overall detector concept, the status of the cryogenic infrastructure and detector R&D, results obtained with prototype technologies in proof-of-concept measurements, and first preliminary data from underground operations at LSM. In addition, Geant4-based simulations are used to evaluate the expected performance gains and the projected impact of these developments for next-generation CUPID-scale neutrinoless double beta decay experiments.