Conveners
Low background / Low threshold detectors
- Noah Kurinsky ()
- Juan Estrada Vigil (FNAL)
Low background / Low threshold detectors
- Noah Kurinsky ()
- Juan Estrada Vigil (FNAL)
SuperCDMS Z-sensitive Ionization and Phonon(ZIP, iZIP) detectors have shown great success in discriminating electron recoils and nuclear recoils, while the High Voltage (HV) detectors have reached very low (~100 eVnr) energy thresholds by sacrificing that discrimination. This talk focuses on a novel phonon-mediated two-stage silicon detector that will retain both an excellent threshold...
Semiconductor detectors, particularity those using CCD or Neganov-Trofimov-Luke (NTL) assisted phonon-mediated techniques are the technologies of choice for the experiments seeking rare and very low energy interactions such as low mass dark matter or coherent elastic neutrino nucleus scattering (CE$\nu$NS). The ultimate sensitivity reach of the current detector design is hindered by a...
In frontier physics, precision calorimetry from photons and charged and neutral massive particles have been crucial to major discoveries. Better resolution and low detection thresholds are of great interest for dark matter searches, solar and reactor neutrino detection and oscillations, neutrino mass measurements, x-ray astronomy, and double-beta decay. A Challenge for semiconductor detectors:...
In the last years, there has been a growing interest in the use of low energy threshold technologies in nuclear reactors as a test bench for neutrino properties, new neutrino interactions at low energy, and the observation of new particles like dark photons, axion-like particles, etc. (through photon-production mechanisms). Nuclear-reactor cores produce the largest neutrino and gamma fluxes...
Many projects are underway aiming to experimentally detect the elusive dark matter candidate particle, the WIMP. Furthermore, some of these technologies are leveraging their strengths to explore other rare event phenomena, such as Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering (CEvNS). Both avenues require aggressively combating sources of background events that are detrimental to the overall...
The next generation of neutrinoless double beta decay searches aims to reach sensitivities in the half-life of the process up to $10^{28}$ years. This will require tonne scale detectors with essentially no background in their region of interest. One of the most promising solutions, which may be implemented by gas or liquid xenon TPCs, is the possibility of tagging the daughter ion produced in...
At the 8 MeV proton accelerator of the Queen's University Reactor Materials Testing Laboratory, we are establishing a quasi-monoenergetic beam of neutrons. These neutrons will be used to induce nuclear recoils of known energy in the dark matter detectors of the NEWS-G experiment. This is needed to to measure the quenching factors of the various gases used, in particular in proton-rich gases...
Long-lived radioactive isotopes produced by cosmogenic activation are a major source of background for rare event searches such as dark matter and neutrinoless double beta decay. Understanding the production rates of these cosmogenic isotopes is extremely important for determining the total allowable surface residence time of detector materials during fabrication, storage, and transportation....
Metastable excitations in materials can store energy longer than equilibration time for the rest of the system. This disequilibrating can arise from a many sources - ionizing radiation, electric breakdown, mechanical stress, changes in temperature, and changes in electric or magnetic fields. Relaxation of stored energy leads to afterglow in gases or temperature stimulated luminescence,...
Dust fallout on material surfaces can be a significant contribution to radioactive background in rare-event ultra-sensitive radiation detectors. Until now, estimates of such contribution have been largely performed based on fallout models and assumed dust composition. This work presents an effective method for the direct determination of contaminant fallout rate on material surfaces from...
Low background rare-event physics experiments and ultrasensitive radiation detectors require materials of the utmost radiopurity to meet their sensitivity goals. Polymers are important materials used extensively in these detectors in a variety of roles, including as insulators and structural supports. Oftentimes, specialized polymer parts are co-located with the active detection target,...