LUCIFER: A Scintillating Bolometer Array for the Search of Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay

One of the main limitations in the study of 0vDBD is the presence of a radioactive background in the energy region of interest. This limit can be overcome by the technological approach of the LUCIFER project, which is based the double read-out of the heat and scintillation light produced by ZnSe scintillating bolometers. This experiment aims at a background lower than 10−3counts/keV/kg/y in the energy region of the 0νDBD of 82Se. Such a low background level will provide a sensitivity on the effective neutrino mass of the order of 100 meV. In the following, the results of the recent R&D activity are discussed, the single module for the LUCIFER detector is described, and the process for the production of 82Se-enriched ZnSe crystals is presented.