Neutron Transport & High-Voltage Systems for Liquid Argon TPCs

by Tyler Erjavec (University of California Davis)

Tuesday 16 Dec 2025, 12:30 → 13:30 America/Los_Angeles

48/2-224 - Madrone (SLAC)

Liquid argon time-projection chambers (TPCs) are central to upcoming neutrino and dark-matter programs, and their performance depends on (amongst many other things) both accurate interaction modeling and strong drift fields enabled by robust high-voltage (HV) distribution hardware.


First, I will present results from the Argon Resonant Transport Interaction Experiment (ARTIE), designed to resolve a long-standing discrepancy in the ⁴⁰Ar(n,tot) cross section near 57 keV—a feature relevant for neutron transport in neutrino–argon interactions and detector background modeling.

I will then describe HV hardware development for the DarkSide-20k collaboration. DarkSide-20k is a dual-phase TPC which aims to search for WIMP dark matter using a 200 ton-year exposure.  In this regime, my thesis work focused on the development and testing of high-voltage hardware such as cryogenic-compatible resistive HV cables and monolithic LDPE/conductive field-gradings, all validated to 100 kV in liquid argon. 

https://stanford.zoom.us/j/98973156241?pwd=cEU5RFdlVXoyc0JTeTlDMkozKzQ5UT09

Erjavec_SLAC_FPD_12162025.pdf