LEGEND: Search for neutrinoless double beta decay in ⁷⁶Ge

Neutrinoless double beta decay is an as-yet-unobserved nuclear decay in which no neutrinos are emitted during the double beta decay of a nucleus due to a beyond-Standard Model process. Observation of this extremely rare process would establish that lepton number is not conserved and that neutrinos have a non-zero Majorana mass. The LEGEND experiment searches for neutrinoless double beta decay in ⁷⁶Ge-enriched high-purity germanium detectors operating in liquid argon, whose scintillation acts as an active veto against external background events. Using specialized detector geometries, pulse shape discrimination is performed to further veto background events. LEGEND-200 has completed about one year of stable physics data-taking at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) in Italy. With a planned ultimate exposure of 1 ton·yr and a target background index of 2×10⁻⁴ cts/(keV·kg·yr) at Q_ββ = 2039 keV, LEGEND-200 is expected to reach a 3σ discovery sensitivity of 10²⁷ years half-life. The next generation experiment, LEGEND-1000, will operate 1000 kg of detectors and reach an expected discovery sensitivity of 10²⁸ years half-life, covering the inverted neutrino mass hierarchy. In this contribution, the current status of the experimental campaign will be discussed, with highlights on the contributions of the University of Washington to the experiment.