Speaker
Description
DarkSide-20k is a direct-detection dark matter experiment targeting candidates from the keV to Planck scale. It employs a 51-tonne dual-phase liquid argon time projection chamber (TPC) and surrounding veto, detecting argon scintillation with large-area cryogenic silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) arrays optimised for high photon detection efficiency and low noise at liquid argon temperatures.
The talk will focus on the production and characterisation of 25 cm² photodetector modules (PDMs) and 400 cm² photodetector units (PDUs), each instrumented with 16 PDMs. Due to stringent radiopurity requirements, all devices are assembled in cleanroom facilities in Italy and the UK and characterised in liquid nitrogen using custom cryogenic test stands to measure single-photoelectron response and noise characteristics. Characterisation measurements are used in quality assurance and quality control of the PDUs during production and inform detector simulations to optimise data acquisition system parameters. With 518 PDUs for the TPC and 120 for the veto, totalling an active SiPM area of 26 m², DarkSide-20k will be the largest deployment of SiPMs in a cryogenic experiment targeting rare-event searches.
| Position | PhD student |
|---|---|
| Affiliation | University of Oxford |
| Country | United Kingdom |