In this talk, we propose a detector concept called APEX (Aluminum Profiles with Embedded X-arapucas) for large LArTPC detectors by instrumenting large-area X-arapuca photon detectors on the entire LArTPC field cage. The photon detectors will cover four sides of a typical cuboid LArTPC volume like the DUNE VD module excluding the two anode planes, with a covered area of up to 2500m^2. The PoF...
The Endcap Timing ReadOut Chip (ETROC) is designed to process LGAD signals with time resolution down to about 40-50ps per hit, to reach 30-35ps per track with two detector layers. The ETROC2 is the first full size (16x16) prototype design and is fully compatible with the final chip specifications in terms of functionality. The ETROC2 has been extensively tested recently. In this talk, the...
Large Area Picosecond Photo-Detectors (LAPPDs) produced by Incom Inc. are the world’s largest commercially-available planar-geometry photodetectors based on microchannel plates (ALD-GCA-MCPs). It features a chevron pair of “next generation” large area MCPs produced by applying resistive and emissive Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) coatings to borosilicate glass capillary array (GCA) substrates...
We present the crystalline xenon time projection chamber (TPC), a promising novel technology for next-generation dark matter searches. Initial tests have established that it maintains many of the benefits of the liquid xenon TPC while also effectively excluding radon, the dominant background in currently-running xenon dark matter experiments such as LZ. This offers the potential for greatly...
Vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) light has applications in many areas of fundamental research and technology, including high-energy physics (HEP) experiments and especially those based on scintillation of noble elements (xenon and argon).
There are persistent challenges associated with the detection of the VUV photons in particle detectors, e.g. strong absorption by structural materials and low...
The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) Experiment’s High Granularity Calorimeter (HGCAL) upgrade replaces the CMS electromagnetic and hadronic endcap calorimeters in preparation for the high-rate and high-radiation environment of the High Luminosity LHC. To effectively use the over 6 million channels of this highly-segmented “imaging” calorimeter, CMS is pioneering very front-end data compression...
Advances in timing detector technology require new specialized readout electronics. Applications demand high rep rates, below 10 ps time of arrival resolution and, low power. A possible path to achieve O(10 ps) time resolution is an integrated chip using Silicon Germanium (SiGe) technology. Using DoE SBIR funding, Anadyne, Inc. in collaboration with UC Santa Cruz has developed a prototype SiGe...
Detectors at future colliders will rely on the ability to perform 4D tracking with O(10ps) resolution. As a stepping stone towards these future detectors we have developed a prototype ASIC, Pebbles, that contains the Big Rock analog front-end and embedded testing circuits. The Big Rock front-end aims to achieve 50ps timing resolution while maintaining all other requirements from the current...
Dual-phase noble liquid time projection chambers (TPCs) are known to experience delayed ionization backgrounds which persist for at least a second after an ionization event occurs. Their rate has been observed by some experiments to exhibit a characteristic power law in time, but the cause is not yet understood. This work presents an analysis of delayed ionization backgrounds from different...
Micro-channel plate photo-multiplier tubes (MCP-PMTs) have become ubiquitous and are widely considered potential candidates for next-generation high-energy physics experiments due to their picosecond timing resolution, ability to operate in strong magnetic fields, and low noise rates. A key factor determining the applicability of MCP-PMTs is their lifetime, mainly when used in high-event rate...
Amorphous selenium (a-Se) is a well-studied photoconductor utilized in both direct and indirect X-ray detection, with applications in medical, industrial, materials, and high-energy imaging; recent studies also highlight its potential for particle detection with noble elements. Amorphous Se exhibits many ideal properties for photodetection, with excellent conversion efficiency from the vacuum...
We present the design and performance of the Fermilab CFD ASIC (FCFD) developed for front-end readout of detectors with fast signals such as LGAD. The FCFD includes a specially designed discriminator that makes its response robust against amplitude variations of the signal. The application of the CFD directly in the readout ASIC promises to be more reliable and reduces the need for complicated...
Skipper-CCDs, with their electron-counting capability, are among the leading technologies in the exploration of the dark sector, with g-size experiments imposing stringent limits on dark sector - standard model particle interactions. In this talk, I will summarize the current status of Oscura, the first massive (10 kg) skipper-CCD array aiming to search for sub-GeV dark matter. I will also...
The Electron Ion Collider (EIC) is the next Nuclear Physics flagship experiment to be constructed at Brookhaven National Lab over the next decade. The EPIC detector will be the first experiment at the EIC dedicated to detailed studies of nuclear structure in electron-proton and electron-ion collisions.
The ambitious physics program of the EIC requires a high performance hadronic calorimetry...
We recently proposed a high-granularity calorimeter insert for the EIC, which uses plastic scintillator tiles read out by silicon photomultipliers. In this talk, we present findings that characterize its fundamental components through measurements of light yield, optical crosstalk, and timing resolutions. These measurements were conducted using cosmic rays, an LED, and a beta source. We also...
I will present an update on the SENSEI dark matter experiment and I will highlight any RnD collaboration opportunities we envision as possible.
The Advanced Accelerator Diagnostic (AAD) collaboration, which is a consortium of University-of-California affiliated institutions and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, is exploring the use of electronic-grade diamond sensors for diagnostic applications that push the limits of the capability of the sensors and their applications. Results from TCAD simulation of charge collection...
We present results of a novel design for high-granularity calorimeters, incorporating multi-layered, staggered tessellations to enhance position resolution. Moreover, we introduce HEXPLIT, a sub-cell re-weighting algorithm tailored to harness staggered designs, resulting in additional performance improvements. By combining our proposed staggered design with HEXPLIT, we achieve an...
The only unambiguous way to detect dark matter (DM) scattering in a direct detection experiment is with a detector capable of distinguishing the direction of the incident particles. Even without event-by-event directionality, such a detector can use the daily modulation (or lack thereof) of measured rates to detect (or set strong limits on) DM-electron scattering, even over otherwise-limiting...
Machine learning based developments made for the level-1 trigger of the CMS experiment at LHC, both for Run-3 and HL-LHC eras will be presented. Unsupervised anomaly detection models are used in CICADA and AXOL1TL implementations using high-level synthesis on Xilinx Virtex-7 based boards for Run-3 running at full LHC clock rate digesting every bunch crossing within level-1 trigger latency...
We are exploring the properties of different sensor materials to enable large-scale low-mass tracking detectors for future colliders and other applications. For this purpose, we are targeting materials amendable to fast and economical fabrication methods, for example Indium Phosphide (InP). First devices have been fabricated in different electrode geometries on single-crystal 350 $\mu$m thick...
To address the challenges of providing high performance calorimetry in future hadron collider experiments under conditions of high luminosity and high radiation, we are conducting R&D on advanced calorimetry techniques suitable for such operation, based on scintillation and wavelength-shifting technologies and photosensor (SiPM and SiPM-like) technology. In particular, we are focusing our...
Evolution of the ATLAS detector readout is driven by the rapid development of COTS network and computing systems. The Front-End Link eXchange (FELIX) system takes advantage of the new COTs components to reduce complexity and life-cycle effort. FELIX is an interface between the trigger and detector electronics and commodity switched networks for the ATLAS experiment at CERN. This rapid...
The TESSERACT collaboration will search for dark matter particles below the proton mass through interactions with two types of novel, ultra-sensitive detectors, These detectors, SPICE & HeRALD, aim to provide leading sensitivities to low mass dark matter candidates. The HeRALD experiment will use superfluid He4 as a target material, which is an ideal kinematic match for dark matter nuclear...
In preparation for the High Luminosity LHC, the ATLAS Experiment is constructing a new Inner Tracker (ITk) composed of silicon pixel and silicon strip detectors. After multiple years of prototyping, the ITk strips project entered the pre-production phase in late-2021. However, in early 2022, clusters of strips exceeding the noise specification were observed when operating modules at cold...
We present a study on the impact of detector granularity on machine-learning-based energy regression for high-granularity sampling calorimeters. As a case study, we simulate the response of a detector similar to the forward calorimeter system intended for use in the ePIC detector, which will operate at the upcoming Electron-Ion Collider. Models using DeepSets and graph neural networks are...
I will present the design and initial test beam results for a high-granularity calorimeter "insert" intended for the EIC. This design leverages SiPM-on-tile technology and introduces innovative features such as the use of 3D-printed frames to minimize optical crosstalk, as well as an ASIC-away-of-SiPM strategy to optimize spatial efficiency and reduce cooling requirements. We built a...
CUPID is a proposed next-generation experiment that will search for neutrinoless double-β (0νββ) decay in $^{100}$Mo using ~1600 Li$_2$$^{100}$MoO$_4$ scintillating crystals operated as low-temperature calorimeters close to ∼10mK. It will leverage the crystal’s energy loss mechanism to tag particle type by simultaneously measuring the thermal and scintillation signals. We will use an auxiliary...
LuSEE-Night is a project to investigate the feasibility of measuring the fundamental physics processes occurring during the cosmic Dark Ages using instrumentation on the lunar surface. The "Dark Ages" refers to the cosmic era between the last scattering of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and the time when the first stars and galaxies formed. Only cold, non-luminous hydrogen gas existed...
Non-linear kinetic inductance (NLKI) enables engineering sensitive devices that operate at the quantum limit. This talk will cover kinetic inductance traveling wave parametric amplifiers (KI-TWPAs) and spectrometers being developed at JPL and Caltech. With relation to KI-TWPAs we will also showcase a hidden photon search experiment QUantum LImited PHotons In the Dark Experiment (QUALIPHIDE)...
My group is developing a prototype liquid 3He-based scintillation detector with a TES readout to precisely measure neutron fluxes in low-background experiments. Until now, efforts to determine neutron backgrounds focus around simulations of the neutron environment without experimental comparison. The high sensitivity to low-energy neutrons provided by the 3He(n,p) process makes our prototype...
We present simulations of whole-body low-dose time-of-flight positron emission tomo-graphy (TOF-PET) based on laminar microchannel plates (LMCP$^\rm{TM}$) packaged into High-Resolution Gamma Multiplier Tubes (HGMTs$^\rm{TM}$) [1]. 511 keV gamma rays interact in the LMCP via the photoelectric and Compton effects to create an electron through surface direction conversion [2], eliminating the...
The inert-behavior, high nuclear mass, and scintillating properties of liquid Argon and Xenon make them attractive for use in a variety of sensitive experiments. However, great care must be taken to remove electronegative impurities which reduce light yield from scintillation, and degrade the resolution of ionization-charge imaging. An external purification circuit is generally beyond the of...
As X-ray micro-CT applications drive development of the next generation of detectors to offer larger and variable fields of view combined with micron scale pixel resolution and high conversion efficiency, a scalable hybrid X-ray detector technology is under development. Direct hybrid X-ray detectors using amorphous Selenium (a-Se) deposited on 3T CMOS readout ASICs have been demonstrated with...
The development of new detector technologies requires high-accuracy simulations of the fundamental underlying processes with simple, transparent tools that newcomers can rapidly learn. TOPAS [1] fully satisfies these requirements as a well-documented, extendable wrapper for Geant4. We have used TOPAS to simulate and develop two photodetector designs: a whole-body time-of-flight positron...
The High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) is set to commence operations in 2029 and will reach unprecedented peak instantaneous luminosity values, resulting in 200 proton-proton interactions per bunch crossing. To cope with this challenging environment, the ATLAS Inner Detector will be replaced by an all-silicon system, the Inner Tracker (ITk). The inner most part of the ITk will...
SLAC is pursuing a central role in advancing cryogenic-CMOS development across a spectrum of High-Energy Physics (HEP) experiments. These endeavors encompass diverse domains, including neutrino science through projects like DUNE and nEXO, as well as investigations in quantum computing and Cosmic Frontier research efforts. The latter involves Cosmic Microwave Background surveys,...
High performance dichroic filters (DFs) are key photon wavelength sorting devices for Cherenkov and scintillation light in water- and scintillator-based neutrino detectors. Future detectors such as THEIA and DUNE will require large-area DFs at a low cost and with improved transmissivity and reflective properties. DFs are traditionally manufactured by various physical vapor deposition (PVD)...
Novel detection methods for nuclear recoil (NR) imaging have the potential to allow one to resolve weak signatures from Coherent Elastic Neutrino Nucleus Scattering (CE$\nu$NS) as a method to probe an exciting frontier of attractive new physics. CE$\nu$NS is postulated to be a critical background to future dark matter (DM) searches and measurements of these interactions in LAr targets may...
In this study, we used a state of the art filtration machine to refine the filtration process for water-based liquids scintillators (WBLS). Our primary objective was to optimize the retention of gadolinium sulfate while concurrently eliminating optical contaminants. Through meticulous experimentation, we determined the precise filter size crucial for preserving the integrity of gadolinium...
The SPLENDOR (Search for Particles of Light Dark Matter with Narrow-gap Semiconductors) experiment is a search for light dark matter via the electron-recoil interaction channel, taking advantage of novel single-crystal narrow-bandgap (order 10-100 meV) semiconductors. Synthesized within the collaboration, the properties of these designer materials imply low dark counts when operated as...
We report on the status of the development of a SiPM incorporating an internal filter that has high sensitivity to the fast component (<0.6ns) of BaF2 scintillation light at 220nm, and substantial suppression of the slow component (650ns) at 300nm.
Interactions of states storing excess energy in a system with energy flow can lead to avalanche energy releases (Self-Organized Criticality scenario), to correlations in energy releases in luminescence, electron emission, and other complex dynamics. While processes of uncontrolled releases of stored energy led to quantum errors and decoherence in quantum computers, these processes and...
M. Anil$^e$, G. Blazey$^b$, A. Dykant$^b$, J. Elam$^e$, M. Figora$^b$, T. Fletcher$^b$, K. Francis$^b$, C. Gatto$^{a*}$, C. Le Mahieu$^d$, S. Los$^c$, M. Murray$^d$, M. Nickel$^d$, E. Ramberg$^c$, C. Royon$^d$, R. Sheemanto$^f$,
M. Syhers$^b$, R. Young$^d$, Z. Ye$^g$, V. Zutshi$^b$
$^a$INFN ( Italy) and Northern Illinois University, USA
$^b$Northern Illinois University USA
$^c$Fermilab,...
The Phase-2 upgrades of ATLAS and CMS for the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC), require a new tracker with robust readout electronics capable of withstanding extreme radiation (1 Grad), a high hit rate (3 GHz/cm2), and a high data rate readout (5 Gb/s). In a joint effort between ATLAS and CMS, pixel detector readout chips have been designed by the RD53 collaboration in 65 nm CMOS technology. Based...
The lead tungstate crystals (PbWO4) are a well-known radiator material for precise homogeneous electromagnetic calorimetry. In nuclear physics experiments, the typical way to read out the crystals is using conventional photomultiplier tubes (PMTs). In the case of the presence of a magnetic field, such a method has some complications and requires a passive PMT shielding design. The recent...
We present plans for SLAC's Detector Microfabrication Facility (DMF), a dedicated 5,500 sq. ft. foundry for the R&D and at-scale production of quantum and superconducting sensors and devices with high purity, complexity, yield, and reproducibility. In addition to a specialized toolset on 150mm wafers, the DMF also includes necessary capabilities for post-fabrication metrology, room-temperature...
The Quantum Capacitance Detector (QCD) is a high-sensitivity direct detector under development for low background applications such as far-infrared spectroscopy from a cold space telescope. The QCD has demonstrated an optically-measured noise equivalent power of 2x10-20 W⋅Hz-1/2 at 1.5 THz, making it among the most sensitive far-infrared (IR) detectors systems ever demonstrated. It has...
Effective searches for sub-GeV particle dark matter require sensitivity to recoil energies below ~1 eV. The SPLENDOR (Search for Particles of Light dark mattEr with Narrow-gap semiconDuctORs) collaboration aims to detect MeV-scale dark matter through the use of novel narrow-gap semiconductor materials coupled to extreme low noise charge amplifiers. In this talk, I describe the design and...
Due to the need to correctly determine the first interaction location of each of the two gamma rays to measure the line-of-response, Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanner sensitivity changes rapidly with small changes in the efficiency at 511 keV. Current PET scanner designs use high atomic number (high-Z) scintillating crystals to detect photoelectric interactions in the detector. Due to...
Silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) are an appealing photosensor technology for next generation dark matter detectors, including XLZD and potential upgrades to LZ. The energy threshold of these experiments is driven in part by the ability to distinguish actual few-photon scintillation events from accidental coincidence events caused by photodetector dark counts. The avalanche process inside a...
"For their experimental proof and subsequent characterization of radio emission from high-energy particle cascades, the Askaryan Effect, which has been used in searches for the highest energy astrophysical (PeV and EeV) neutrinos. They have utilized the lunar regolith, Antarctic ice sheet, salt and other dielectrics as detector materials. In addition, they have studied the radio signatures of...
“For his work on 3D pixelated readout technology for liquid argon time projection chambers (LArPix). This low power, low noise custom ASIC with dynamic i/O, capable of running in liquid argon, has helped open the field to advanced systems on chips. Such technologies underpin the modular DUNE ND-LAr near detector which will need to make precise measurements in a high flux environment with event...
AstroPix is a high-voltage CMOS monolithic silicon detector that was designed for space-based applications, specifically gamma-ray trackers. It targets low power operation in a relatively low occupancy environment with minimal dead material. These traits are synergistic with an imaging calorimeter as well and AstroPix will be the silicon technology in the Electron Ion Collier barrel...
(on behalf of EIC-eRD108 MPGD consortium)
Excellent tracking over large kinematic acceptance is one of the most important requirement for EIC Physics program. The proposed MPGD trackers in EIC will cover both central and forward rapidity regions to provide additional space point to complement Si hits needed for pattern recognition along with nominal timing resolution for background rejection....
The sPHENIX experiment at RHIC was fully assembled and started its first commissioning run in the summer of 2023. This experiment will further investigate the microscopic nature of sQGP through precision measurements of jet, upsilon, and open heavy flavor probes over a broad pT range. The Time Projection Chamber (TPC) is one of the main tracking detectors in the sPHENIX detector. It is...
sPHENIX is a new detector experiment currently under commissioning at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Lab (BNL). The Time Projection Chamber (TPC) uses stacks of 4 Gas Electron Multipliers (GEMs) as a gain stage in its 72 modules. Under certain conditions the high voltage across a GEM can cause an uncontrolled discharge. To study and mitigate the effects of...
Dual-phase LArTPCs have demonstrated the capability of achieving sub-keV thresholds in the electron-counting S2-only channel, making them powerful tools for light dark matter searches, measuring coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering at nuclear reactors, and other low-energy applications. However, efforts to study the lowest accessible energies in these detectors are complicated by...
University of Iowa, ANL, together through CALICE collaboration developed the Digital Calorimeter. The detector uses RPCs as active media and is read out with 1 x 1 cm 2 pads and digital (1-bit) resolution. Our group has the necessary expertise to develop alternative RPC gases, a gas recycling facility and HV system up to 8 kV. We will also develop low resistivity glass with the optimum...
We will present a program to establish the first development and manufacturing of HEP-specific sensors monolithically integrated into a standard CMOS process using a US-based foundry. In collaboration with several US universities the project aims to develop Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors (MAPS) designs implemented in the 90 nm technology node, including simple test structures and multi-pixel...
In this presentation, we will present a TimePix readout-based Time Projection Chamber as one of the options for the Particle Identification (PID) and to aid the tracking capabilities. TimePix based readout opens an interesting possibility to perform PID via cluster counting with high separation power for pion, kaon, and proton identification. The added benefit of using this device is the...
Xenon and argon are widely used target media for low cross-section experiments including neutrino physics and dark matter searches. Xenon-doping of dual phase argon time projection chambers (TPCs) at the O(1%) level may substantially improve detector sensitivity. However, the large temperature discrepancy between the argon and xenon phase transition points can cause instabilities in a...
We report measurements of the transverse diffusion parameters of electrons through P10 gas (90% Ar, 10% CH4) in a laboratory-scale time projection chamber (TPC) using a novel pixelated signal capture and digitization method. The method, Q-Pix, consists of a precision switched integrating trans-impedance amplifier whose output is compared to a threshold voltage by a comparator. The comparator...
SNSPDs are well established as an ultra-fast and highly efficient single photon detector technology. Typical sensor properties, such as small pixel size, low power, and low material thickness, make these sensitive detectors ideal for tracking particle detector applications. Cases where only modest detector areas are needed are prime candidates for this new particle detection technology. One...
Implementing machine learning (ML) models in hardware has received considerable interest over the last several years from the physics community. The Python packages, hls4ml and conifer, has enabled porting models trained using Python ML libraries to register transfer level (RTL) code. Most of the attention, thus far, has been focused on porting ML models to commercial FPGAs or synthesized...
The increasing maturity of superconducting qubits over the past few decades has allowed the field of superconducting quantum computing to flourish. In parallel, advances in detector technology which have built on this wave of qubit fabrication expertise have shown that this same technology can be applied to energy sensing at the THz (meV) scale, opening up a new regime of sensing leveraging...
Liquid argon has become the primary detector material in many neutrino and dark matter experiments like DUNE, SBND, ICARUS, MicroBooNE, and DarkSide. In particular, multi-kiloton experiments like the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) have stringent requirements for systematic uncertainties on the energy scale and resolution. Neutron production from neutrino interaction brings a large...
We are currently developing thermal kinetic inductance detectors (TKIDs) for CMB observations and millimeter wave spectroscopy. TKIDs use the temperature dependance of a KID-like high Q resonator as a drop in replacement to TESes, granting bolometric arrays the ease of KID-like readout. We will report on the laboratory performance of an array of antenna coupled KIDs designed for CMB...
In a standard active pixel sensor, every pixel records brightness information which is sent out to the acquisition system through some sort of readout mechanism. Depending on the experiment requirements, a readout mechanism ranging from a completely serial readout to a completely parallel readout has been proposed by the research community. Like every other circuit design, each readout...
Astronomical measurements, particularly using optical interferometers, can be improved -- in some cases greatly so -- through the new application of quantum devices such as quantum memories, single-photon sources, quantum repeaters, quantum teleportation, and more. We will review recent work in this field, a.k.a. "quantum telescopy" and show how quantum-linked optical arrays can directly...
Next-generation silicon pixel detectors with fine granularity will allow for precise measurements of particle tracks in both space and time. This will result in unprecedented data rates which will exceed those anticipated at the HL-LHC. A reduction in the size of pixel data must be applied at the collision rate of 40MHz in order to fully exploit the pixel detector information of every...
We will discuss the first results from the GigaBREAD experiment. GigaBREAD is a 10.7-12.5 GHz search for dark photons which completed its first round of data taking during the summer of 2023. GigaBREAD is a pilot experiment which is the first to implement the novel BREAD reflector geometry. The BREAD reflector is designed to enhance a dark photon or axion-like particle signal by focusing...
Superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs) are the most advanced sensors available for time-resolved single photon counting from the ultraviolet to the infrared. We will discuss recent advances in SNSPD technology, including demonstration of dark count rates below 1e-5 cps, scaling to large-format arrays (up to 400 kpix), single-photon sensitivity at wavelengths as long as 29...
Detection of nuclear recoil events plays a central role in dark matter and neutrino scatter experiments. Precise nuclear recoil calibration data allow the responses of these detectors to be characterized and enable in situ evaluation of an experiment's sensitivity to anticipated signals. Using a few examples, we discuss the main experimental factors that are critical for accurate nuclear...
The water-based liquid scintillator (WbLS) has many potential applications in nuclear and particle physics and other rare-event detections. The WbLS, as the primary detector target, allows simple detector design, minimum chemical hazard, and adjustable scintillation light yield. In addition, the separation of scintillation and Cherenkov events enables directional reconstruction and enhances...
Hybrid neutrino detectors utilize both Cherenkov and scintillation light to detect neutrino events, combining the lower energy threshold of pure scintillator detectors and enhanced direction resolution of water detectors. The benefits of hybrid detectors provide for advancements in fundamental physics goals as well as in applications such as nuclear nonproliferation. Experiments with small...
Abstract: The search for increasingly low-mass (sub-GeV) dark matter motivates the development of detectors with sub-eV energy thresholds. Quantum sensors such as superconducting qubits have demonstrated great promise in this regime. Particle interactions in the substrate of these devices can generate phonons and liberate charge carriers. Propagation of these events can induce a...
Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers (TPC) are promising detectors for dark matter search due to their response uniformity, scalability to large target masses, and suitability for extremely low background operations. The DarkSide-20k experiment is a new dark matter detector under construction at Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) that...
In order to utilize qubits as particle detectors, understanding energy dissipation in qubit substrate (Silicon and Sapphire) through electron-hole pair generation and phonon kinematics is essential. These mechanisms are strongly associated with correlated errors in qubit chips, as observed in cosmic muon and gamma ray absorption events reported recently. We present our work on phonon...
nEXO is a next-generation 5-tonne liquid xenon time projection chamber that will search for neutrinoless double beta decay (0$\nu\beta\beta$) of $^{136}$Xe with a projected half-life sensitivity of 1.35x10$^{28}$ years in 10 years of livetime. To achieve this sensitivity, the design goal of nEXO is $\leq$1% energy resolution at the Q$_{\beta\beta}$ endpoint value of 2.458 MeV. To reach this...
In recent years, Transition Edge Sensors (TES) have been developed and used in a variety of experiments, such as low-energy Dark Matter (DM) searches, high sensitivity astroparticle measurements, and quantum information devices. For ultra-sensitive light DM direct detection and infrared photon sensing, TES with low superconducting transition temperatures (Tc) and low dark counts are required....
Lutetium-yttrium oxyorthosilicate (LYSO) is a high density, rugged/radiation tolerant, fast scintillator. For this reason LYSO crystal scintillators are used or planned in many High Energy Particle experiments (as e.g., KLOE-2, srEDM, COMET, CMS Barrel Timing Layer) in medical diagnostic devices (PET, TAC, CT) and in current and planned astroparticle physics space calorimeters (as e.g.,...
A critical element in all high-energy physics experiments is the signal transmission from the active elements to the data acquisition system. It is especially challenging in large volume detectors based on noble liquids that are extensively being used for dark matter and neutrino detection.
The topics of this contribution is the optical signal transmission of the signals acquired with...
Two major drawbacks to time-of-flight positron emission tomography (TOF-PET) are low spatial resolution and high radioactive dose to the patient, both of which result from limitations in detection technology rather than fundamental physics. To address these, a new type of TOF-PET detector employing low-atomic number (low-Z) scintillation media recording Compton scattering locations and...
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...
We have proposed a method of construction and simulated the performance in TOPAS [1] of large-area microchannel plates (MCPs) assembled by stacking thin, patterned laminae on edge to form laminar microchannel plates (LMCPs$^\rm{TM}$) [2]. The laminae are first patterned with channels of arbitrary shape and size so that when stacked, they form pores as in a traditional MCP. The laminae are...
Readout of low-intensity microwave signals over a wide bandwidth has become increasingly important for fundamental science. The high frequency allows high information transfer, which is ideal for multiplexing detectors and reducing low-frequency noise.
One specific experiment in need of frequency multiplexing is Ricochet. Ricochet aims to measure coherent neutrino scattering to search for...
The next generation of ground and space-based cosmic surveys in the optical to near-IR regime require extremely sensitive, virtually noiseless detectors that are capable of counting single-photon or single-electron events. Skipper charge-coupled devices (CCDs) offer the ability to achieve deeply sub-electron read noise by exploiting the technique of non-destructive readout to independently...
Rigorous radioactive background constraints are necessary for rare-event search experiments to meet their sensitivity goals. Underground facilities provide ideal attenuation of cosmic radiation, shielding materials around the detectors are used to mitigate backgrounds from soil, and extensive radioassay campaigns are performed to source the most radiopure materials. To reduce the impact of...
With the advancement in low-threshold detector technology over the last decade, the HEP community has increasingly been able to probe for new physics at low energies. Specifically, looking for beyond the standard model physics via distortions of the low energy CE$\nu$NS spectrum, searching for low mass dark matter, and single counting of THz photons. However, measuring particle interactions...
The Skipper CCD-in-CMOS image sensor integrates the non-destructive readout capability of skipper Charge Coupled Devices (CCDs) with a high conversion gain pinned photodiode on a CMOS imaging process, while taking advantage of in-pixel signal processing.
We will present the first results of the testing of the first prototype ASIC, fabricated in a commercial 180nm CMOS processes, which...
The Helium Roton Apparatus for Light Dark Matter (HeRALD) experiment will use superfluid 4He to probe unexplored dark matter parameter space. Superfluid helium has several advantages: good kinematic matching to light dark matter candidates, ballistic quasiparticle propagation, scalability, and multiple signal channels for electronic vs. nuclear recoil discrimination. I will discuss recent...
Thin film technology such as chemical vapor deposition and atomic layer deposition can deposit a variety of materials with high precision over large areas. Thin film detectors incorporate semiconducting materials for the sensing layer and also potentially electronic elements into a monolithic design. Fabrication of thin film detectors is possible on large, flexible substrates which can scale...
The development of large-area MCP-based particle detectors with time resolutions of 5 ps or less [1] would allow substantive advances in particle identification at particle colliders such as the LHC and EIC, high precision mass reconstruction in searches for rare K and η decays, and a reduction by orders-of-magnitude of the radiation dose in positron-emission tomography [2, 3]. We describe a...
Next generation rare-event searches, for example in looking for "sub-GeV" particle dark matter, require new tools and techniques with much improved sensitivity. In particular, the constrained kinematic space of potential interactions suggests that collective excitations like phonons may be the only signature of very low mass dark matter candidates. One promising technology to study these are...
A number of applications, including neutrino studies and the search for dark matter, require detectors with lower thresholds and increased sensitivity. Superconducting detectors like Transition Edge Sensors (TES), Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKID), and Josephson Junctions are attractive candidate technologies where the use of low Tc materials could enable them to address theses...
SPT-3G+ is the planned next-generation camera for the South Pole Telescope (SPT). Building on three generations of increasingly sensitive SPT cameras, SPT-3G+ will observe the mm/sub-mm sky at 220, 285, and 345 GHz, beyond the peak of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) blackbody spectrum. Consisting of 34,000 monochroic microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs) across seven wafers,...
In the realm of particle physics, the quest for ever more precise and efficient detection methods is an ongoing pursuit. A cutting-edge technology, Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC), is poised to revolutionize the field by introducing a paradigm-shifting pixelated approach to enhance neutrino detection experiments.
Traditionally, LArTPCs have relied on wire-based projective...
Harnessing sub-eV energy excitations from light dark matter interaction with a target material is one of the challenges in exploring promising novel materials for dark matter searches. In polar materials like sapphire, dark matter interaction can excite sub-eV optical phonon modes. Furthermore, the anisotropy of sapphire crystal could provide a signature of daily modulation of the dark matter...
Rare isotope (RI) beams facilities are now critical tools for nuclear physics. The Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), located on the campus of Michigan State University, is a world-class facility for the study of RIs using the in-flight fragmentation method. The unprecedented potential discovery of a modern rare isotope beam facility, such as FRIB, can only be realized by implementing...
Directional detectors of low-energy nuclear and electronic recoils would enable unique dark matter searches and neutrino experiments. I will introduce the motivation and the CYGNUS proposal to build a large-scale detector of this type, and review R&D on gaseous detectors that achieve directionality by reconstructing the detailed topology of recoils in gas. If time allows, I will also comment...
An optical quantum sensor (OQS) based on lasers and alkali-metal atoms is currently the most sensitive ambient-temperature magnetometer. Because of high sensitivity and operation in a broad frequency range, the OQS can be used in axion dark matter search with an inductor-capacitor (LC) circuit at kHz and MHz frequencies. In this talk, we will present our recent activities on OQS-based axion...
Non-destructive readout capability of the Skipper Charge Coupled Device (CCD) has been proven to be a powerful technique to reduce the noise limitation of conventional silicon devices even to levels that allow single-photon or single-electron counting. The noise reduction is achieved by spending extra time taking several measurements of the same pixel charge. This extra time has been a...
In the next decade, intensity frontier experiments will require tracking systems that are robust against high event and background rates while maintaining excellent tracking performance. I will discuss the first conceptual design of a tracking system for a hypothetical future experiment--imagined as an upgrade of or successor to Belle II--built around a gas time projection chamber with...
Developments over the last decade have pushed the search for particle dark matter (DM) to new frontiers, including the keV-scale lower mass limit for thermally-produced DM. Galactic DM at this mass is kinematically matched with the energy needed to break a Cooper pair in common superconductors (~meV). Quantum sensors such as superconducting qubits are sensitive to these broken Cooper pairs,...
The Scintillating Bubble Chamber (SBC) collaboration will combine the well-established liquid argon and bubble chamber technologies to search for GeV-scale dark matter and the coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering from MeV reactor antineutrinos. SBC detectors benefit from the excellent electron-recoil insensitivity inherent in bubble chambers with the addition of energy reconstruction...
DUNE aims to measure CP violation in the leptonic sector, observe supernova burst neutrinos, and detect rare processes such as proton decay. To achieve these goals, DUNE will use a highly capable suite of near detectors. The DUNE Near Detector complex for Phase II includes ND-GAr, a magnetized high-pressure gaseous-argon TPC (HPgTPC) surrounded by a calorimeter. Due to the low detection...
Future detector systems will require miniaturized, low mass, low electromagnetic interference (EMI), magnetic field tolerant, and radiation tolerant power converters. One approach is to use on-chip or on-module DC-DC converters. These converters typically use inductors as an energy storage element, which can by physically large compared to the electronics they power, and require EMI and...
The research and development (R&D) efforts to detect neutrinoless beta decay have made significant progress in recent years. One of the R&D directions involves the use of high-pressure gas xenon detectors, like those employed by the NEXT experiment. In this approach, a fast optical camera is utilized to convert the tracking information into digital form. The NEXT-CRAB (Camera Readout and...
Advances in computer vision techniques over the past decade have enabled high performance, real-time analyses of 2D and 3D images, opening up the possibility of not only classification and regression tasks, but also more complicated tasks like object detection, key point detection, and semantic segmentation of image data. In this talk, we detail examples of machine learning techniques applied...
We report ongoing efforts in developing superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs) for nuclear and particle physics applications. SNSPDs offer unique set of capabilities which are well suited for accelerator facilities with significant cryogenic infrastructure to support operation of superconducting magnets. We will give an overview of targeted applications which leverage new...
A number of experiments searching for dark matter have invoked the Migdal effect to improve their mass sensitivity to Weakly Interacting Massive particles by over an order of magnitude without this application of the effect having ever been experimentally validated. In light of this, the Migdal in Galactic Dark mAtter expLoration (MIGDAL) experiment aims to make the first direct and...
PSEC4 [1] has been utilized for waveform sampling in the PhD theses of E. Angelico[2] and E. Oberla[3] ,the Fermilab Test Beam, and the Accelerator Neutrino Neutron Interaction Experiment. PSEC5 aims to improve on its predecessor by raising the number of channels from 6 to 16, the sampling rate from 10 GSa/s to 40 GSa/s, and most importantly, achieving a timing resolution of 1 picosecond.
A...
I will report on the formation of the new DRD1 detector R&D collaboration (focused on gaseous detectors) in Europe.
The performance of a variety of superconducting detectors including athermal phonon detectors and qubits is limited by spurious energy depositions, which create background events, noise, and otherwise degrade device performance. In athermal phonon detectors, at high event energies, these energy depositions appear as the zero charge component of the "Low Energy Excess." At lower event energies,...
Low gain avalanche detectors (LGADs) promise excellent timing resolution, which can mitigate mis-assignment of vertices associated with pileup at the High Luminosity LHC and other future hadron colliders. The most highly irradiated LGADs will be subject to $2.5\times 10^{15}\;n_{eq}cm^{-2}$ of hadronic fluence during HL-LHC operation; their timing performance must tolerate this. Hamamatsu...
We present the results with large-area AC-LGAD strip sensors, using the Fermilab Test Beam Facility and sensors manufactured by the Brookhaven National Laboratory. Sensors of this type are envisioned for applications that require large-area precision 4D tracking coverage with economical channel counts, including timing layers for the Electron Ion Collider (EIC), and space-based particle...
Xe and Ar dual-phase detectors cannot detect nuclear recoils with energies below 200 eV because of the limitations of ionization processes. Still, the number of excitations and defects in these detectors, which can store energy and produce delayed or excess background electron and photon emission, is lower than in solid-state sensors. Combined with larger mass, this can provide superior...
PIONEER is a next-generation experiment to measure the charged-pion branching ratio to electrons vs. muons and the pion beta decay with an order of magnitude improvement in precision. A high-granularity active target (ATAR) is being designed to provide detailed 4D tracking information, allowing the separation of the energy deposits of the pion decay products in both position and time. The...
Computing demands for large scientific experiments, such as the CMS experiment at CERN, will increase dramatically in the next decades.To complement the future performance increases of software running on CPUs, both in online TDAQ systems and offline data processing, explorations of coprocessor usage hold great potential and interest. We explore the novel approach of Services for Optimized...
An InAs/GaAs quantum dot (QD) detector is a novel GaAs semiconductor-based scintillation detector utilizing artificial luminescent centers - epitaxial InAs QDs, combined with a monolithically integrated photodiode (PD) to collect the QD emission. To assess its feasibility for future tracking applications, we compare the parameters of this detector against a perspective Si Low Gain Avalanche...
The Inner Pixel Tracker (ITkPix) is the most important subdetector in ATLAS for tracking and vertexing of the charged particles produced in the collisions. Being closest to the beam pipe, it also has the highest flux of particles traversing through the material per unit area at any given time. During HL-LHC, the number of particle interactions in every bunch crossing will increase manifolds....
The muon campus program at Fermilab includes the Mu2e experiment that will search for a charged-lepton flavor violating processes where a negative muon converts into an electron in the field of an aluminum nucleus, improving by four orders of magnitude the search sensitivity reached so far.
The Trigger and Data Acquisition System (TDAQ) of the Mu2e projects consists of commercial,...
High-energy and high-luminosity collision experiments on the future collider demand higher radiation resistance and time resolution detectors due to events pile-up. Silicon Low-gain avalanche detectors (LGADs) with excellent time resolution have been identified for use in collider experiments, such as ATLAS and CMS experiments. However, due to the inherent properties of silicon material, the...
Merged with #10 titled "Towards the Muon Collider Detectors"
The Axion Dark Matter eXperiment (ADMX) is one of the world’s leading direct detection experiments searching for an elusive dark matter particle candidate known as the axion. The axion’s origin lies in the realm of particle physics, initially coming into existence as a solution to the strong CP problem. Since its inception however, physicists have been interested in it not only for its ability...
The LArPix charge readout system is designed to provide native 3D readout of ionization charge signals in liquid argon time projection chambers (LArTPCs) in a way that is scalable to instrument large volumes. The system is compatible with large-scale commercial fabrication techniques, which enables low-cost quick-turn production. At the heart of the system is the low-power, cryo-compatible,...
LightPix is an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) geared towards highly scalable cryogenic SiPM readout. LightPix is manufactured in 180-nm Bulk CMOS, and provides 64 individual channels each with amplification, a self-triggering TDC with O(ns) precision, and digital readout. Each ASIC dissipates <200 $\mu$W per channel, and is scalable to >1000 channels per signal cable, allowing...
The HAYSTAC Collaboration is actively searching for axion cold dark matter using a resonant microwave cavity and quantum squeezed state receiver. With axion mass and coupling strength unknown, a crucial metric is the scanning rate across their parameter space. Recent advancements in squeezed state receivers have doubled the scanning rate. This talk will discuss HAYSTAC's current...
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...
Parametric amplifiers continue to be vital components in solid state quantum readout at cryogenic temperatures. Various flavors of parametric amplifiers are carving their place in a number of different readout architectures. Josephson junction (JJ) based amplifiers are the natural progression when these readout architectures are at deep cryogenic temperatures. Josephson traveling wave...
QCDs, which are based on a charge qubit design, are the most sensitive far-infrared detectors in 1.5 THz regime. Apart from their current application in space telescopes for infrared spectroscopy, they have single-photon sensitivity that can be utilized to look for ultralight Dark Matter at the meV scale. This talk will give an overview of our work to characterize a QCD detector using a weak...
Evolution of the ATLAS detector readout is driven by the rapid development of COTS network and computing systems. The Front-End Link eXchange (FELIX) system takes advantage of the new COTs components to reduce complexity and life-cycle effort. FELIX is an interface between the trigger and detector electronics and commodity switched networks for the ATLAS experiment at CERN. This rapid...
