The Enriched Xenon Observatory aims to detect the "neutrino-less double-beta decay" process using large amounts of xenon isotopically enriched in the isotope 136. Simply stated, the goals of the project are:
The first phase of the experiment, with 200 kg of Xenon enriched to 80% in the isotope 136, is currently being installed at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlbad, NM.
For the next generation ton scale version of the experiment, we are proposing to identify the final state of the decay, a barium ion, using high resolution, single atom spectroscopy.