The DArk Matter In CCDs at Modane (DAMIC-M) experiment is designed to search for light dark matter (m\(_{\chi}\)<10\,GeV/c\(^2\)) at the Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane (LSM) in France. DAMIC-M will ...use skipper charge-coupled devices (CCDs) as a kg-scale active detector target. Its single-electron resolution will enable eV-scale energy thresholds and thus world-leading sensitivity to a range of hidden sector dark matter candidates. A DAMIC-M prototype, the Low Background Chamber (LBC), has been taking data at LSM since 2022. The LBC provides a low-background environment, which has been used to characterize skipper CCDs, study dark current, and measure radiopurity of materials planned for DAMIC-M. It also allows testing of various subsystems like readout electronics, data acquisition software, and slow control. This paper describes the technical design and performance of the LBC.
The DAMIC-M (DArk Matter In CCDs at Modane) experiment employs thick, fully depleted silicon charged-coupled devices (CCDs) to search for dark matter particles with a target exposure of 1 kg-year. A ...novel skipper readout implemented in the CCDs provides single electron resolution through multiple non-destructive measurements of the individual pixel charge, pushing the detection threshold to the eV-scale. DAMIC-M will advance by several orders of magnitude the exploration of the dark matter particle hypothesis, in particular of candidates pertaining to the so-called "hidden sector." A prototype, the Low Background Chamber (LBC), with 20g of low background Skipper CCDs, has been recently installed at Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane and is currently taking data. We will report the status of the DAMIC-M experiment and first results obtained with LBC commissioning data.
Nucl.Instrum.Meth.A579:1054-1080,2007 An array of Neutral-Current Detectors (NCDs) has been built in order to make
a unique measurement of the total active flux of solar neutrinos in the Sudbury
...Neutrino Observatory (SNO). Data in the third phase of the SNO experiment were
collected between November 2004 and November 2006, after the NCD array was
added to improve the neutral-current sensitivity of the SNO detector. This
array consisted of 36 strings of proportional counters filled with a mixture of
$^3$He and CF$_4$ gas capable of detecting the neutrons liberated by the
neutrino-deuteron neutral current reaction in the D$_2$O, and four strings
filled with a mixture of $^4$He and CF$_4$ gas for background measurements. The
proportional counter diameter is 5 cm. The total deployed array length was 398
m. The SNO NCD array is the lowest-radioactivity large array of proportional
counters ever produced. This article describes the design, construction,
deployment, and characterization of the NCD array, discusses the electronics
and data acquisition system, and considers event signatures and backgrounds.
The MAJORANA Collaboration is building the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR, a 60 kg array of high purity germanium detectors housed in an ultra-low background shield at the Sanford Underground Laboratory in ...Lead, SD. The MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR will search for neutrinoless double-beta decay of 76Ge while demonstrating the feasibility of a tonne-scale experiment. It may also carry out a dark matter search in the 1-10 GeV/c^2 mass range. We have found that customized Broad Energy Germanium (BEGe) detectors produced by Canberra have several desirable features for a neutrinoless double-beta decay experiment, including low electronic noise, excellent pulse shape analysis capabilities, and simple fabrication. We have deployed a customized BEGe, the MAJORANA Low-Background BEGe at Kimballton (MALBEK), in a low-background cryostat and shield at the Kimballton Underground Research Facility in Virginia. This paper will focus on the detector characteristics and measurements that can be performed with such a radiation detector in a low-background environment.
An array of Neutral-Current Detectors (NCDs) has been built in order to make a unique measurement of the total active flux of solar neutrinos in the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO). Data in the ...third phase of the SNO experiment were collected between November 2004 and November 2006, after the NCD array was added to improve the neutral-current sensitivity of the SNO detector. This array consisted of 36 strings of proportional counters filled with a mixture of \(^3\)He and CF\(_4\) gas capable of detecting the neutrons liberated by the neutrino-deuteron neutral current reaction in the D\(_2\)O, and four strings filled with a mixture of \(^4\)He and CF\(_4\) gas for background measurements. The proportional counter diameter is 5 cm. The total deployed array length was 398 m. The SNO NCD array is the lowest-radioactivity large array of proportional counters ever produced. This article describes the design, construction, deployment, and characterization of the NCD array, discusses the electronics and data acquisition system, and considers event signatures and backgrounds.
The central detector in the MuSun experiment is a pad-plane time projection ionization chamber that operates without gas amplification in deuterium at 31 K; it is used to measure the rate of the muon ...capture process \(\mu^- + d \rightarrow n + n + \nu_\mu\). A new charge-sensitive preamplifier, operated at 140 K, has been developed for this detector. It achieved a resolution of 4.5 keV(D\(_2\)) or 120 \(e^-\) RMS with zero detector capacitance at 1.1 \(\mu\)s integration time in laboratory tests. In the experimental environment, the electronic resolution is 10 keV(D\(_2\)) or 250 \(e^-\) RMS at a 0.5 \(\mu\)s integration time. The excellent energy resolution of this amplifier has enabled discrimination between signals from muon-catalyzed fusion and muon capture on chemical impurities, which will precisely determine systematic corrections due to these processes. It is also expected to improve the muon tracking and determination of the stopping location.
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