Mass production automated test system for the NEXT SiPM tracking plane

NEXT is a double beta decay experiment that will be operated in Canfranc Underground Laboratory (Spain). It will contain a tracking plane based on ~7000 SiPMs (S10362-11-050P from Hamamatsu) in which every photo sensor must be tested and characterized to ensure detector quality and to perform adequate data corrections. This paper presents the automated system developed for the test and characterization of the SiPMs. The test system is based on laboratory equipment and a custom made board controlled using LabVIEW software, being a concept that can be easily adapted to other experiments.