New experimental approaches to search for neutrino mass

In order to obtain high sensitivity in the study of the neutrino mass it is necessary to design experiments able to optimize all the sensitivity parameters. One of the most promising techniques to achieve this goal is the bolometric technique because of its intrinsic characteristics: high detection efficiency, excellent energy resolution, low intrinsic background and the possibility to study many different compounds. The bolometric technique has already obtained excellent results on the neutrino mass study with Cuoricino. The Cuoricino experiment has also shown that surface contaminations of materials facing the detectors would be the limiting factor for the sensitivity of next generation experiments with bolometers. Mainly for this reason scintillating bolometers have been developed allowing a very efficient discrimination of alpha particles thanks to their double readout. Tests performed on these crystals showed moreover the possibility to discriminate the interacting particles through a pulse shape analysis. This feature is very promising because it allows to reach the same results on the background reduction obtained with the hybrid detectors but without complicating the experimental assembly. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.