9–11 Jun 2025
Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas
America/Sao_Paulo timezone

BULLKID: searching for rare events with monolithic arrays of detectors

9 Jun 2025, 12:06
18m
Auditório Ministro João Alberto Lins de Barros (Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas)

Auditório Ministro João Alberto Lins de Barros

Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas

Rua Dr. Xavier Sigaud 150 Urca, Rio de Janeiro, RJ Brazil

Speaker

Giorgio Del Castello (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (Italy))

Description

BULLKID is a novel detector concept based on an array of particle absorbers sensed by multiplexed Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KIDs). The aim of this detector is to control the backgrounds by creating a fully active structure and by applying fiducialization
techniques.

Following the encouraging results from a 20 g prototype detector,
here we present the first operation of 3-wafer demonstrator array
(for a total of 60 g and 180 silicon dice), operated on surface with
a mild shield. The recorded background is here compared with Geant4
simulations conducted by the collaboration.

Currently, the collaboration is focused on building BULLKID-DM, a
new experiment aimed at searching for hypothetical WIMP-like Dark-Matter particles with mass around 1 GeV or below and cross-section with nucleons smaller than $10^{-41}$ cm$^{2}$.
The target of the BULLKID-DM experiment consists of a stack of BULLKID detectors and will amount to a total of 800~g subdivided in more than 2000 silicon dice.

Aside from BULLKID-DM, there is also an ongoing R\&D aimed at transferring this detector technology to a germanium substrate. Changing to a higher nuclear mass target is imperative for a possible CE$\nu$NS experiment based on the BULLKID detector concept. Due to the initial promising results on this experimental effort, studies of the potential of a germanium-based BULLKID array are being made and will be here presented.

Finally, we present the foreseen timeline and commissioning of the BULLKID-DM experiment, which will be deployed in the Gran Sasso national laboratories.

Author

Giorgio Del Castello (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (Italy))

Presentation materials