An updated overview of the HOLMES status Borghesi, M.; Alpert, B.; Balata, M. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
06/2023, Letnik:
1051
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
HOLMES is an ERC project started in 2014 that will perform a model independent measurement of the neutrino mass with a sensitivity of the order of 1 eV. In order to reach its goal sensitivity, HOLMES ...will use 1000 low temperature microcalorimeters, each implanted with an activity of 300 Bq of 163Ho, performing thus a calorimetric measurement. This contribution presents the recent results achieved that lay the grounds for the low-activity phase of the HOLMES experiment, that will lead to its first limit on the neutrino mass.
We present a detailed description of the electromagnetic filter for the PTOLEMY project to directly detect the Cosmic Neutrino Background (CNB). Starting with an initial estimate for the orbital ...magnetic moment, the higher-order drift process of E×B is configured to balance the gradient-B drift motion of the electron in such a way as to guide the trajectory into the standing voltage potential along the mid-plane of the filter. As a function of drift distance along the length of the filter, the filter zooms in with exponentially increasing precision on the transverse velocity component of the electron kinetic energy. This yields a linear dimension for the total filter length that is exceptionally compact compared to previous techniques for electromagnetic filtering. The parallel velocity component of the electron kinetic energy oscillates in an electrostatic harmonic trap as the electron drifts along the length of the filter. An analysis of the phase-space volume conservation validates the expected behavior of the filter from the adiabatic invariance of the orbital magnetic moment and energy conservation following Liouville’s theorem for Hamiltonian systems.
This paper describes the production and chemical separation of the 163Ho isotope that will be used in several nuclear physics experiments aiming at measuring the neutrino mass as well as the neutron ...cross section of the 163Ho isotope. For this purpose, several batches of enriched 162Er have been irradiated at the Institut Laue-Langevin high flux reactor to finally produce 6 mg or 100 MBq of the desired 163Ho isotope. A portion of the Er/Ho mixture is then subjected to a sophisticated chemical separation involving ion exchange chromatography to isolate the Ho product from the Er target material. Before irradiation, a thorough analysis of the impurity content was performed and its implication on the produced nuclide inventory will be discussed.
A large calorimetric neutrino mass experiment using thermal detectors is expected to play a crucial role in the challenge for directly assessing the neutrino mass. We discuss and compare here two ...approaches to the estimation of the experimental sensitivity of such an experiment. The first method uses an analytic formulation and allows to readily obtain a sensible estimate over a wide range of experimental configurations. The second method is based on a frequentist Monte Carlo technique and is more precise and reliable. The Monte Carlo approach is then exploited to study the main sources of systematic uncertainties peculiar to calorimetric experiments. Finally, the tools are applied to investigate the optimal experimental configuration for a calorimetric experiment with rhenium based thermal detectors.
The assessment of neutrino absolute mass scale is still a crucial challenge in today particle physics and cosmology. Beta or electron capture spectrum end-point study is currently the only ...experimental method which can provide a model-independent measurement of the absolute scale of neutrino mass. HOLMES is an experiment funded by the European Research Council to directly measure the neutrino mass. HOLMES will perform a calorimetric measurement of the energy released in the electron capture decay of the artificial isotope
163
Ho. In a calorimetric measurement, the energy released in the decay process is entirely contained into the detector, except for the fraction taken away by the neutrino. This approach eliminates both the issues related to the use of an external source and the systematic uncertainties arising from decays on excited final states. The most suitable detectors for this type of measurement are low-temperature thermal detectors, where all the energy released into an absorber is converted into a temperature increase that can be measured by a sensitive thermometer directly coupled with the absorber. This measurement was originally proposed by De Rujula and Lusignoli (Nucl Phys B 219:277,
1983
.
https://doi.org/10.1016/0550-3213(83)90642-9
), but only in the last decade the technological progress in detectors development has allowed to design a sensitive experiment. HOLMES plans to deploy a large array of low-temperature microcalorimeters with implanted
163
Ho nuclei. In this contribution we outline the HOLMES project with its physics reach and technical challenges, along with its status and perspectives.
TES Microcalorimeters for PTOLEMY Rajteri, M.; Biasotti, M.; Faverzani, M. ...
Journal of low temperature physics,
04/2020, Letnik:
199, Številka:
1-2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The PTOLEMY project is devoted to directly detect the cosmic neutrino background. A key point for the project success is the development of a device which is capable of detecting electrons with an ...energy resolution lower than 0.05 eV. Microcalorimeters based on transition-edge sensors are among the best candidates since they already reach 0.11 eV of energy resolution for telecomm photons. To further improve the energy resolution, while maintaining a suitable saturation energy, it is necessary to reduce the transition temperature. This could be achieved by proximity effect of a normal-superconducting bilayer. To this aim, TiAu very thin films are under development to demonstrate the feasibility of reaching 0.05 eV energy resolution for light pulses of few eV. Thanks to the high electron stopping power of metals, the penetration depth of low energy incident electrons is limited to few nanometers and, with respect to visible light, we expect a high detection efficiency, while keeping similar dark counts and energy resolution.
Reducing noise to the quantum limit over a large bandwidth is a fundamental requirement for future applications operating at millikelvin temperatures, such as the neutrino mass measurement, the ...next-generation X-ray observatory, the CMB measurement, the dark matter and axion detection, and the rapid high-fidelity readout of superconducting qubits. The read out sensitivity of arrays of microcalorimeter detectors, resonant axion-detectors, and qubits, is currently limited by the noise temperature and bandwidth of the cryogenic amplifiers. The Detector Array Readout with Traveling Wave Amplifiers project has the goal of developing high-performing innovative traveling wave parametric amplifiers with a high gain, a high saturation power, and a quantum-limited or nearly quantum-limited noise. The practical development follows two different promising approaches, one based on the Josephson junctions and the other one based on the kinetic inductance of a high-resistivity superconductor. In this contribution, we present the aims of the project, the adopted design solutions and preliminary results from simulations and measurements.
The HOLMES experiment will perform a precise calorimetric measurement of the end point of the Electron Capture (EC) decay spectrum of 163 Ho in order to extract information on neutrino mass with a ...sensitivity below 2 eV. In its final configuration, HOLMES will deploy 1000 detectors of low temperature microcalorimeters with implanted 163 Ho nuclei. The baseline sensors for HOLMES are Mo/Cu TESs (Transition Edge Sensors) on SiN x membrane with gold absorbers. Considering the large number of pixels and an event rate of about 300 Hz/pixel, a large multiplexing factor and a large bandwidth are needed. To fulfill this requirement, HOLMES will exploit recent advances on microwave multiplexing. In this contribution we present the status of the activities in development, the performances of the developed microwave-multiplexed readout system, and the results obtained with the detectors specifically designed for HOLMES in terms of noise, time and energy resolutions.
Noise at the quantum limit over a broad bandwidth is a fundamental requirement for future cryogenic experiments for neutrino mass measurements, dark matter searches, and Cosmic Microwave Background ...(CMB) measurements as well as for fast high-fidelity read-out of superconducting qubits. In the last years, Josephson Parametric Amplifiers (JPA) have demonstrated noise levels close to the quantum limit, but due to their narrow bandwidth, only few detectors or qubits per line can be read out in parallel. An alternative and innovative solution is based on superconducting parametric amplification exploiting the travelling-wave concept. Within the Detector Array Readout with Travelling Wave AmplifieRS (DARTWARS) project, we develop Kinetic Inductance Travelling-Wave Parametric Amplifiers (KI-TWPAs) for low temperature detectors and qubit read-out. KI-TWPAs are typically operated in a three-wave mixing (3WM) mode and are characterised by a high gain, a high saturation power, a large amplification bandwidth, and nearly quantum limited noise performance. The goal of the DARTWARS project is to optimise the KI-TWPA design, explore new materials, and investigate alternative fabrication processes in order to enhance the overall performance of the amplifier. In this contribution we present the advancements made by the DARTWARS collaboration to produce a working prototype of a KI-TWPA, from the fabrication to the characterisation.
This study presents recent advancements in Josephson Traveling Wave Parametric Amplifiers (JTWPAs) developed and tested at Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica within the Detector Array Readout ...with Traveling Wave AmplifieRS project framework. Combining Josephson junctions with superconducting coplanar waveguides, JTWPAs offer advanced capabilities for quantum-limited broadband microwave amplification and the emission of non-classical microwave radiation. The work delves into the architecture, optimization, and experimental characterization of a JTWPA with a Resonant Phase-Matching mechanism, highlighting signal gains and idler conversion factors in relation to pump power and signal frequency.