Status and Perspectives of the COBRA Experiment

COBRA is a neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ) experiment using an array of Cadmium-Zinc-Telluride semiconductor detectors, the isotope of interest being 116Cd with a Q-value of 2814 keV. To investigate the experimental challenges of operating CdZnTe detectors in low background mode and to identify potential background components, a demonstrator setup is operated at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory (LNGS) in Italy, while additional studies are proceeding in surface laboratories. The experiment consists of monolithic, calorimetric detectors of coplanar grid design (CPG de- tectors). These detectors have a size of 1×1×1 cm3 and are arranged in four layers of 4×4 detectors. An overview of the current status and of future perspectives is given. Results of pulse shape analyses are presented as well as background estimates using the data collected so far.