The XENONnT detector, located at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, in Italy, utilizes 5.9 tonnes of instrumented liquid xenon in the direct search for weakly-interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter. Having achieved unprecedented levels of target purity in both electronegative contaminants and intrinsic radioisotopes, it is sensitive to a plethora of signals beyond WIMPs, such as...
LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) is a dark matter direct detection experiment nearly a mile underground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, South Dakota, USA. LZ employs a dual-phase xenon time projection chamber with 7 tonnes of active volume and a multi-component veto system for sensitive detection of particles such as Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), a highly motivated...
The DarkSide-20k experiment represents the present goal of the Global Argon Dark Matter Collaboration program. Bringing together the success of the DarkSide-50 detector and the experience gained on large volume membrane cryostats developed within the DUNE program, the community is now building a dual-phase LAr-TPC equipped with SiPM matrices for light readout. The main goal of the experiment...
DEAP-3600 is the largest running dark matter detector filled with liquid argon, set at SNOLAB, in Sudbury, Canada, 2 km underground. The experiment holds the most stringent exclusion limit in non-Xe target for WIMPs above 10 GeV/c$^2$.
In the published analysis the main background reducing the sensitivity were events induced by alpha particles in some surfaces and in suspended dust. I will...
As liquid argon (LAr) detectors are made at progressively larger sizes, accurate models of LAr optical properties become increasingly important for simulating light transport, understanding signals, and developing analyses. The refractive index, group velocity, and Rayleigh scattering length are particularly important for VUV and visible photons in detectors with diameters much greater than...
DarkSide-20k is a direct dark matter search experiment, that looks for Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) events. The detector is based on an ultrapure liquid Argon double-phase Time Projection Chamber, which will be located at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso. In rare event search experiments (like the DarkSide case), it is crucial to keep under control any background sources. In...
DARWIN (DARk matter WImp search with liquid xenoN) is an upcoming experiment designed to address the enigmatic nature of dark matter and neutrinos. With a 40-tonne liquid xenon sensitive target, DARWIN aims to explore the entire accessible parameter space down to the neutrino floor limitation for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). Moreover, this low-background, low-threshold...
The DARWIN observatory is a proposed multi-purpose experiment for dark matter and neutrino physics, featuring a 50 tonne (40 tonnes active) dual-phase xenon time projection chamber. To test key technological concepts required for the realization of DARWIN, we built Xenoscope at the University of Zurich, a full-scale vertical demonstrator using 400 kg of liquid xenon (LXe). It will be used as a...
The DarkSide-20k experiment searches for dark matter by looking for interactions of WIMPs in a 50 tonnes target of liquid argon using double-phase time projection chamber technology. The key component of the experiment is low radioactivity argon depleted in the isotope Ar.
The supply chain begins with the Urania plant in Colorado, which can produce argon at a purity of 99.99% from a CO stream...
Assessing the purity of the underground argon in terms of Ar-39 is crucial to ensure the successful operation of DarkSide-20k (DS-20k), a next-generation dark matter detector under construction by the Global Argon Dark Matter Collaboration (GADMC). To achieve this goal, the GADMC is constructing the DArTinArDM experiment at the LSC laboratory in Spain.
The radiopure DArT chamber (~1 liter),...
The use of large amounts of low-radioactivity Argon is envisaged in the context of different projects related to rare event searches like the direct detection of dark matter or neutrino studies.
Material activation due to exposure to cosmic rays may become an important background source for experiments investigating these phenomena.
In the case of DarkSide-20k, the extraction and...
The neutrino experiment DUNE, currently under construction in the US, has a broad physics program that covers oscillation physics at the GeV scale, the search for the proton decay and the observation of supernova and solar neutrinos. The DUNE far detector is based on the technology of the liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC), that allows for a 3D real-time position reconstruction of...
DUNE is an ambitious experimental project with a wide physics program aiming to the observation of the neutrino oscillation physics like CP violation and identification of mass hierarchy, the detection of supernova and solar neutrinos and the search for the proton decay.
The experiment is based on the liquid argon time projection chamber technology with four modules. The first of two far...
The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is an international experiment that uses Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers (LArTPCs) for advanced neutrino science. Detectors to be used in this configuration to collect the scintillation light must be compliant with the cryogenic environment and exhibit low levels of dark noise. FBK has developed NUV-HD-Cryo SiPM technology for cryogenic...
DUNE is a challenging long-baseline accelerator experiment in construction at Fermilab and SURF (South Dakota) aiming to probe CP violation in the neutrino sector and to identify the neutrino mass hierarchy.
The DUNE physics reaches on the observation of supernova neutrino bursts and proton decay are remarkably enhanced by the DUNE Photon Detection System (PDS) and strictly related to the...
The MicroBooNE detector is an 85-ton active mass Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) located on-axis along the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB). It serves as a part of the Short-Baseline Neutrino (SBN) program at Fermilab, which was primarily designed to address the MiniBooNE low energy excess. The primary signal channel in the LArTPC is ionisation, but the argon also produces large...
The Short-Baseline Near Detector (SBND) is a 112 ton Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) neutrino experiment located 110 m away from the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) target in Fermilab, (Illinois, USA). The main physics goals of SBND are the search for sterile neutrinos in the eV scale, the study of neutrino-argon interactions and the hunt for Beyond Standard Model physics. As a...
Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers (LArTPCs) have become one of the main detection technologies in the field of neutrino physics. In addition to the ionization charge, used to reconstruct near photographic images of neutrino interactions, LAr is also a very prolific scintillator. New experiments like the Short Baseline Near Detector (SBND) are focusing on harnessing the potential of the...
The ICARUS T600 detector is a 760-ton Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) currently operating at Fermilab as the Far Detector in the Short Baseline Neutrino (SBN) program. The SBN program is composed of three LArTPCs with a central goal of testing the sterile neutrino hypothesis. After operating for 3-years in the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory, the ICARUS detector was shipped to...
The SoLAr detector concept is a novel approach to enhance the liquid argon time projection chambers for neutrino measurements in the O(10) MeV energy range. The primary objective of SoLAr is to study solar neutrino properties, including the ability to identify neutrinos from the "hep-branch" of the proton-proton fusion chain occurring in the Sun.
The SoLAr detector concept integrates both...
The adhesion of the p-terphenyl film to the substrate used in the X-ARAPUCA dichroic filter is directly correlated to the long-term efficiency of this device. Six different cleaning methods were established before deposition with the intention of analyzing their contributions to the adhesion process of the film to the substrate. Three distinct techniques were used in the adhesion tests. The...
Dark matter (DM), which constitutes five-sixths of all matter, is hypothesized to be a weakly interacting non-baryonic particle, created in the early stages of cosmic evolution. There are several experiments that aim for the detection of DM. One of the most promising candidates of DM is the Weakly Interacting Massive Particles or WIMPs. The DarkSide project aims at the direct detection of DM....
In this work, we describe a cryogenic setup for the study of wavelength-shifting materials for optimised light collection in noble element radiation detectors, and discuss the commissioning results. This SiPM-based setup uses alpha induced scintillation in gaseous argon as the vacuum ultraviolet light source with the goal of characterising materials, such as polyethylene naphthalate (PEN)...
Liquid argon (LAr) detectors are deployed in rare event searches such as dark matter searches, neutrino oscillation experiments, and experiments searching for neutrinoless double beta decay. These detectors rely on wavelength shifting (WLS) materials to convert argon scintillation light (at 128 nm) to visible wavelengths, enabling efficient light collection with reflectors and detection by...
Liquid argon is used as active media in several neutrino and dark matter experiments (DUNE, SBND, Microboone, Icarus, Dark Side, DEAP, …). Ionization particles in liquid argon produce free charges and scintillation photons. Both signals are used to perform calorimetric measurements, particle identification, three dimensional reconstruction. Liquid argon scintillation light can be quenched and...
Liquid argon and liquid xenon detectors often encounter high voltage issues at much smaller fields than the theoretical breakdown limit. Minor electron emission events from high voltage electrodes are often sufficient to produce unacceptable deadimes, backgrounds to the physics to be investigated, and may even be harbingers of impending breakdown. These problems become more acute as the size...
The Noble Element Simulation Technique (NEST) is a toolkit for simulating signals in noble liquid detectors. A variety of models have been developed to simulate ionization and scintillation signals in argon- and xenon-based detectors, trained and benchmarked against a body of data published in rare-event search experiments and dedicated calibration measurements. This presentation will discuss...
Liquid Argon (LAr) Time Projection Chambers (TPC) operating in double-phase detect the nuclear recoils (NR) possibly caused by the elastic scattering of dark matter WIMP particles via light signals from both scintillation and ionization processes.
In the scenario of a low-mass WIMP (< 2 GeV/c^{2}), the energy range for the NRs would be below 20 keV, thus making it crucial to characterize the...
The DarkSide-50 (DS-50) experiment uses underground argon (UAr) as a target for the detection of WIMPs, one of the prime candidates for dark matter searches. During the transportation from Colorado (US) to Gran Sasso (Italy) cosmic ray interactions produce $^{37}Ar$ in the UAr. Narrow peaks corresponding to L-shell (0.27 keV) and K-shell (2.82 keV) electron capture are visible in the DS-50...
The TREXDM detector, a low background chamber with microbulk Micromegas readout, was commissioned in the underground laboratory of Canfranc (LSC) in 2018. Since then, data taking campaigns have been carried out with Argon and Neon mixtures, at different pressures from 1 to 4 bar. The two challenges currently faced are the reduction of the background level and the improvement of the energy...
CYGNO, a directional Dark Matter TPC optically readout
We are going to discuss the latest R&D progress concerning the enhancement of the light yield in the CYGNO experiment. CYGNO is a directional detector for low mass (0.5-50 GeV) Dark Matter WIMP searches. The experiment is focused on developing a high-precision and optically readout gaseous Time Projection Chamber and, given its...
The Scintillating Bubble Chamber (SBC) Collaboration is combining the well-established bubble chamber and liquid argon scintillator technologies to build a detector specifically suited to the quasi-background-free measurement of low energy nuclear recoils. This relies on the principle that nuclear recoils induce bubble formation (nucleation) while electron recoils do not, allowing bubble-based...
The recent detection of the coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEνNS) opens the possibility to use neutrinos to explore physics beyond standard model with small size detectors. However, the CEνNS process generates signals at the few keV level, requiring of very sensitive detecting technologies for its detection. The European Spallation Source (ESS) has been identified as an optimal...
The neutrino-nucleus coherent scattering (CEνNS), known as CEνNS, has the highest cross-section among all interaction channels for MeV neutrinos, making it the most promising way of remote monitoring and detection of nuclear reactors. The biggest challenges are lowering the energy threshold to keV and sub-keV and mitigating the cosmogenic background in a sea-level detector. A liquid xenon time...
The NEXT (Neutrino Experiment with a Xenon TPC) collaboration seeks to discover the neutrinoless double beta decay (ββ0ν) of Xe-136 using a high-pressure gas time projection chamber with electroluminesence gain and optical read-out. A first medium-scale prototype with 5-kg of xenon, NEXT-White, operated at the Laboratorio Subterraneo de Canfranc (LSC) from 2016 to 2021. This prototype has...
The NEXT (Neutrino Experiment with a Xenon TPC) project is an international collaboration aimed at finding evidence of neutrinoless double beta decay using gaseous xenon. The current phase of the project involves the construction and operation of NEXT-100, which is designed to hold 100 kg of xenon at 15 bar and is expected to start commissioning in the fourth quarter of 2023. NEXT-HD will be a...
I will provide an overview of the most famous experimental developments proposed so far with prototypes comprising liquid xenon in order to supplant the solid cameras used today in functional medical PET gamma-rays imaging. A parenthesis also addresses the operating principle of Compton telescopes will be provided in order to motivate their future use in the context of XEMIS (Xenon Medical...
The 3DΠ project, developed in collaboration with DarkSide, introduces a novel Total-Body (TB), Time Of Flight (TOF), Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanner for medical imaging. This project builds upon the advancements made by the DarkSide collaboration in Liquid Argon(LAr) detector technology, low-radioactivity argon procurement, and cryogenic photosensor development.
The 3DΠ scanner...
Segmented double-scatter Compton camera systems have been widely used for imaging gamma sources. There are examples of the same technique applied for neutron source imaging, however, such devices tend to be bulky and require considerable supporting infra-structure. We will present a compact design that utilizes a segmented scintillator stack, SiPMs, NeuPix ASICs, and an FPGA-based readout...
The injection of energetic electrons in dense gases and liquids is a technique widely used to accomplish several goals. In particular, how hot electrons thermalize in a dense gas or in a liquid is a subject that has attracted much attention. Hot electrons can lose their energy along multiple energy degradation paths. Dense rare gases efficiently convert the electron kinetic energy by exciting...
The Liquid Xenon Proportional Scintillation Counter (LXePSC) is a single-phase liquid xenon detector capable of producing electroluminescence directly in the liquid phase. In doing so, we are able to disregard the extraction efficiency, as seen in dual phase LXeTPCs, and simplify the detector design and operation by not needing to maintain a liquid-gas interface. In this talk, we will present...
Some recent noble-liquid electron-multiplier concepts have been recently proposed as potential sensing elements of single-phase detectors. They aim at overcoming current liquid-to-gas interface instabilities in large-area dual-phase TPCs.
We report the first observation of electroluminescence (EL) of liquid xenon with Micro-Strip plates (MSPs), similar to those used in gas Micro-Strip Plate...
Xenon in gaseous and liquid form is a widely used detector target material for rare-event searches, including the direct detection of dark matter. Its scintillation properties in the ultraviolet (UV) spectrum are well-known and extensively utilized. However, the use of infrared (IR) scintillation light in xenon-based detectors remains largely unexplored. This contribution presents the first...
Both the spectrum and primary scintillation yields of Argon-CF4 mixtures have been measured with an x-ray tube and an alpha source, respectively, in a broad range of concentrations and pressures. In the studied range of 220-800 nm, these mixtures scintillate mainly in four bands centered on 260, 290, 370 and 625 nm. Scintillation is clearly noticeable for as little as 0.1% of CF4 in the...
Xenon scintillation has been widely used in recent particle physics experiments. However, information on the primary scintillation yield in the absence of recombination is still scarce and dispersed. The mean energy required to produce a Vacuum Ultraviolet (VUV) scintillation photon (Wsc) in gaseous Xe has been measured in the 30–120 eV range. Lower Wsc-values are often reported for alpha...
The Liquid Argon Calorimeters are employed by ATLAS for precision electromagnetic calorimetry and for hadronic and forward calorimetry in the forward region. They also provide inputs to the first level of the ATLAS trigger system.
Since 2022, the LHC has restarted with the perspective of an increase of the instantaneous luminosity and pile-up of up to 80 interactions per bunch crossing. The...
Darkside-20k is a global direct dark matter search experiment situated underground at LNGS (Italy), designed to reach a total exposure of 200 tonne-years nearly free from instrumental backgrounds. The core of the detector is a dual-phase Time Projection Chamber (TPC) filled with 50 tonnes of low-radioactivity liquid argon.
The entire TPC wall is surrounded by a gadolinium-loaded...
We have developed a large area $(8 \times 9\,\mathrm{mm}^2)$ digital SiPM array with a high fill factor $(77\%)$ for light detection in rare event search experiments with liquid noble gases. Digital SiPMs combine SPADs and CMOS logic on the same silicon substrate so that the SPAD hits can be processed on-chip and the chip output signals are purely digital. This reduces power consumption and...
Detection of the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) scintillation light produced by liquid noble elements will be of central importance to fully exploit the potential of future time projection chambers (TPCs) using these media. A novel technology recently proposed to detect VUV light is based on a windowless amorphous selenium photosensor. This device would open the door to the possibility of making an...
The presentation will focus on the challenges faced in detecting scintillation photons in liquid argon TPCs related to their short wavelength and the cryogenic temperatures (~87K) at which the sensors need to be effective. To enhance the photon detection efficiency (PDE) of the photon detectors it is common the use of wavelength shifters. This leads to the introduction of the studied sensors,...
In this talk, we present the progress on development of CMOS-based front-end application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for charge and light readout undertaken at Brookhaven National Laboratory. This design evolves from the LArASIC chip manufactured in 0.18 µm, that has been selected for charge readout in the liquid argon time protection chamber (LArTPC) in the phase I of DUNE. LArASIC...
Dual-phase (gas-liquid) argon (Ar) and xenon (Xe) time projection chambers (TPC) are promising dark-matter (DM) detectors; hence various international collaborations plan to construct big TPCs based on them. Interactions in these detectors induce scintillation in the far ultraviolet (FUV) at ~128 mn (Ar) or ~172 nm (Xe).
Unfortunately, coatings for the FUV present an intrinsic challenge...
Noble liquid scintillators like argon (LAr) and xenon (LXe) are used as the main detection medium for many particle and rare-event search detectors in part due to their high scintillation yield, background rejection capabilities and scalability to large volumes. Many detectors combine measurements of the scintillation light from the noble liquids with a time projection chamber (TPC) which...
Polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) foils have been demonstrated as a wavelength shifter suitable for operation in liquid argon. At the same time wavelength shifting efficiency of technical grades of PEN, commercially available on the market, is lower than that of tetraphenyl butadiene. This talk will report on an R&D program focused on exploring the intrinsic limitations of PEN and optimizing it...
The LEGEND experiment aims to detect the neutrinoless double beta decay of $^{76}$Ge, which would prove the Majorana nature of neutrinos, with a sensitivity for the half-life of $10^{28}$ years. To this end, one tonne of high-purity germanium (HPGe) detectors will be deployed in a segmented liquid argon (LAr) medium, which is used as coolant and instrumented as a detector for the active...
The successful operation of noble fluid particle detectors relies on adhering to stringent purity constraints. To take full advantage of the scintillation performance of liquid argon, sub-ppm levels of impurity concentrations must be achieved. Commercial providers do not reliably meet these requirements, thus creating the need for on-site purification. We designed and constructed a...
The X-ARAPUCA is an innovative photon detection device based on the use of a short pass dichroic filters with an appropriate cut-off wavelength, two wavelength shifters and an array of SiPM. This device was idealized and developed to detect liquid argon scintillation photons in large liquid argon time projection chambers (LArTPC). The scintillation light is produced in the vacuum ultraviolet...
The search for light dark matter (<10 $GeV/c^2$) has become increasingly important, since no conclusive evidence has been found in the higher dark matter (DM) mass region. In order to explore this light mass range, it is necessary to accurately model the response of the noble liquid time projection chamber (TPC) detectors, used in many experiments aimed at the direct measurement of DM, to low...
Dark matter searches using dual-phase xenon time projection chambers (LXe-TPC), such as LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ), use the ratio of charge signal to light signal to discriminate between electron recoils and nuclear recoils. The charge and light yields of electron recoils are often calibrated with 𝛽-decays, such as 3H and 212Pb. These 𝛽-decays produce recoils primarily from outer shell electrons, while...
Deep Learning (DL) is nowadays ubiquitous. In Particle Physics there is a wide portfolio of successful applications. Position reconstruction is one of the areas where DL has been applied in the past. In this talk we present preliminary research on position reconstruction DL-based in large liquid argon detectors, and a roadmap of future developments. Additionally, efforts to apply Explainable...
The Coherent CAPTAIN-Mills (CCM) experiment is a 10 ton liquid argon scintillation detector located at Los Alamos National Lab. The detector is located 23m downstream from the Lujan Facility's stopped pion source which will receive 2.25 * 10^22 POT in the ongoing 3 year run cycle. CCM is instrumented with 200 8-inch PMTs, 80% of which are coated in wavelength shifting tetraphenyl-butadiene,...
The 2nd Far Detector of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) will be instrumented with a Vertical Drift Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (VD LAr TPC). The geometry of this TPC requires a different design of the Photo-Detection System (PDS). By installing xArapuca photo-detectors both on the walls of the cryostat and on the cathode of the TPC, it is possible to achieve an...
Making precise calorimetric measurements of energy deposition in large liquid argon detectors depends on being able to accurately reconstruct the total deposited light given what is observed at the detectors. Understanding how the light travels and is potentially lost in the detector is a key input to that reconstruction. We present a direct measurement of the total attenuation length of...
Liquid xenon (LXe) is widely used in various neutrino and dark matter experiments, including the next-generation searches for dark matter and neutrinoless double beta decay, DARWIN and nEXO. LXe scintillates in vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) region, and understanding reflectance and transmittance of materials and photodetection efficiency (PDE) of photosensors in this region is important for...
When a xenon atom’s nucleus recoils from a dark matter particle or any other incident radiation, the atom’s electron cloud is expected to fall behind, resulting in possible ionization and excitation. This phenomenon is called the Migdal effect and is attracting attention as it can improve the sensitivity of direct dark matter search in the sub-GeV/c$^2$ regime. In a liquid xenon detector like...
The Q-Pix concept (arXiv: 1809.10213) is a continuously integrating low-power charge-sensitive amplifier (CSA) viewed by a Schmitt trigger. When the trigger threshold is met, the comparator initiates a ‘reset’ transition and returns the CSA circuitry to a stable baseline. This is the elementary Charge-Integrate / Reset (CIR) circuit. The instance of reset time is captured in a 32-bit clock...
