Speaker
Description
Astroparticle physics experiments searching for rare events, such as neutrinoless double beta decay and dark matter particle interactions, have to be shielded from background radiation and have to exhibit a radioactive background as low as reasonably achievable. The material selection for the next generation of low-background experiments is becoming crucial to inform the final design of the shielding scheme and to estimate the ultimate background rate in the energy region of interest of the experiments.
The SNOLAB material screening and assay program allows the direct measurement of the experimental background sources. In this talk I will review the low background measurement capabilities at SNOLAB and will discuss plans and options to expand the facility to allow for the increased sensitivity required by the next generation of experiments.
