Eur. Phys. J. C (2026) 86: 114
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-025-14951-y

Regular Article - Experimental Physics

The NEXT-100 Detector

¹ Argonne National Laboratory, 60439, Argonne, IL, USA
² Donostia International Physics Center, BERC Basque Excellence Research Centre, Manuel de Lardizabal 4, 20018, San Sebastián/Donostia, Spain
³ Instituto de Instrumentación para Imagen Molecular (I3M), Centro Mixto CSIC-Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera s/n, 46022, Valencia, Spain
⁴ Unit of Nuclear Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O.B. 653, 8410501, Beer-Sheva, Israel
⁵ Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), 99352, Richland, WA, USA
⁶ Department of Organic Chemistry I, Universidad del Pais Vasco (UPV/EHU), Centro de Innovación en Química Avanzada (ORFEO-CINQA), 20018, San Sebastián/Donostia, Spain
⁷ Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC), CSIC & Universitat de València, Calle Catedrático José Beltrán, 2, 46980, Paterna, Spain
⁸ Instituto Gallego de Física de Altas Energías, Univ. de Santiago de Compostela, Campus sur, Rúa Xosé María Suárez Núñez, s/n, 15782, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
⁹ Institute of Nanostructures, Nanomodelling and Nanofabrication (i3N), Universidade de Aveiro, Campus de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal
¹⁰ Department of Physics, Universidad del Pais Vasco (UPV/EHU), PO Box 644, 48080, Bilbao, Spain
¹¹ Laboratorio Subterráneo de Canfranc, 22880, Paseo de los Ayerbe s/n, Canfranc Estación, Spain
¹² LIP, Department of Physics, University of Coimbra, 3004-516, Coimbra, Portugal
¹³ Centro de Física de Materiales (CFM), CSIC & Universidad del Pais Vasco (UPV/EHU), Manuel de Lardizabal 5, 20018, San Sebastián/Donostia, Spain
¹⁴ Department of Physics, University of Texas at Arlington, 76019, Arlington, TX, USA
¹⁵ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Manchester University, M13 9PL, Manchester, UK
¹⁶ LIBPhys, Physics Department, University of Coimbra, Rua Larga, 3004-516, Coimbra, Portugal
¹⁷ Ikerbasque (Basque Foundation for Science), 48009, Bilbao, Spain
¹⁸ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Texas at Arlington, 76019, Arlington, TX, USA
¹⁹ Department of Applied Chemistry, Universidad del Pais Vasco (UPV/EHU), Manuel de Lardizabal 3, 20018, San Sebastián/Donostia, Spain
²⁰ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University, 50011-3160, Ames, IA, USA
²¹ Racah Institute of Physics, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 9190401, Jerusalem, Israel
²² Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, 60510, Batavia, IL, USA
²³ Escola Politècnica Superior, Universitat de Girona, Av. Montilivi, s/n, 17071, Girona, Spain
²⁴ NVIDIA, Santa Clara, USA
²⁵ Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
²⁶ University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA
²⁷ Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, USA

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Received: 30 May 2025
Accepted: 13 October 2025
Published online: 5 February 2026

Abstract

The NEXT collaboration is dedicated to the study of double beta decays of $_{}^{136}$Xe using a high-pressure gas electroluminescent time projection chamber. This advanced technology combines exceptional energy resolution ($\le 1\%$ FWHM at the $Q_{\beta \beta }$ value of the neutrinoless double beta decay) and powerful topological event discrimination. Building on the achievements of the NEXT-White detector, the NEXT-100 detector started taking data at the Laboratorio Subterráneo de Canfranc (LSC) in May of 2024. Designed to operate with xenon gas at 13.5 bar, NEXT-100 consists of a time projection chamber where the energy and the spatial pattern of the ionising particles in the detector are precisely retrieved using two sensor planes (one with photo-multiplier tubes and the other with silicon photo-multipliers). The detector has been operating at stable conditions using argon and xenon gases at $\sim$4 bar and drift fields of $74\text{V}{\text{cm}}^{-1}$ and $118\text{V}{\text{cm}}^{-1}$, respectively. Alpha decays from the $_{}^{222}$Rn chain have been used to test and monitor the stability of the detector, showing a constant electron lifetime in the drift volume. In this paper, in addition to reporting the results of the commissioning run, we provide a detailed description of the NEXT-100 detector, describe its assembly, and present the current estimation of the radiopurity budget.