Searching for Scalar Ultralight Dark Matter with Optical Fibers [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2305.11205


We consider optical fibers as detectors for scalar ultralight dark matter (UDM) and propose using a fiber-based interferometer to search for scalar UDM with particle mass in the range $10^{-17} – 10^{-13}$ eV/$c^2$ $\left(10^{-3}- 10 \text{ Hz}\right)$. Composed of a solid core and a hollow core fiber, the proposed detector would be sensitive to relative oscillations in the fibers’ refractive indices due to scalar UDM-induced modulations in the fine-structure constant $\alpha$. We predict that, implementing detector arrays or cryogenic cooling, the proposed optical fiber-based scalar UDM search has the potential to reach new regions of the parameter space. Such a search would be particularly well-suited to probe for a Solar halo of dark matter with a sensitivity exceeding that of previous DM searches over the particle mass range $7\times 10^{-17} – 2\times 10^{-14}$ eV/$c^2$.

Read this paper on arXiv…

J. Manley, R. Stump, R. Petery, et. al.
Mon, 22 May 23
43/60

Comments: N/A

Protocols for healing radiation-damaged single-photon detectors suitable for space environment [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2305.10959


Single-photon avalanche detectors (SPADs) are well-suited for satellite-based quantum communication because of their advantageous operating characteristics as well as their relatively straightforward and robust integration into satellite payloads. However, space-borne SPADs will encounter damage from space radiation, which usually manifests itself in the form of elevated dark counts. Methods for mitigating this radiation damage have been previously explored, such as thermal and optical (laser) annealing. Here we investigate in a lab, using a CubeSat payload, laser annealing protocols in terms of annealing laser power and annealing duration, for their possible later use in orbit. Four Si SPADs (Excelitas SLiK) irradiated to an equivalent of 10 years in low Earth orbit exhibit very high dark count rates (>300 kcps at -22 C operating temperature) and significant saturation effects. We show that annealing them with optical power between 1 and 2 W yields reduction in dark count rate by a factor of up to 48, as well as regaining SPAD sensitivity to a very faint optical signal (on the order of single photon) and alleviation of saturation effects. Our results suggest that an annealing duration as short as 10 seconds can reduce dark counts, which can be beneficial for power-limited small-satellite quantum communication missions. Overall, annealing power appears to be more critical than annealing duration and number of annealing exposures.

Read this paper on arXiv…

J. Krynski, N. Sultana, Y. Lee, et. al.
Fri, 19 May 23
10/46

Comments: 6 pages, 9 figures, work presented at IEEE Nuclear and Space Radiation Effects Conference 2022, prepared for submission to IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science

The Next Generation Arecibo Telescope: A preliminary study [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2305.07780


The Next Generation Arecibo Telescope (NGAT) was a concept presented in a white paper Roshi et al. (2021) developed by members of the Arecibo staff and user community immediately after the collapse of the 305 m legacy telescope. A phased array of small parabolic antennas placed on a tiltable plate-like structure forms the basis of the NGAT concept. The phased array would function both as a transmitter and as a receiver. This envisioned state of the art instrument would offer capabilities for three research fields, viz. radio astronomy, planetary and space & atmospheric sciences. The proposed structure could be a single plate or a set of closely spaced segments, and in either case it would have an equivalent collecting area of a parabolic dish of size 300 m. In this study we investigate the feasibility of realizing the structure. Our analysis shows that, although a single structure ~300 m in size is achievable, a scientifically competitive instrument 130 to 175 m in size can be developed in a more cost effective manner. We then present an antenna configuration consisting of one hundred and two 13 m diameter dishes. The diameter of an equivalent collecting area single dish would be ~130 m, and the size of the structure would be ~146 m. The weight of the structure is estimated to be 4300 tons which would be 53% of the weight of the Green Bank Telescope. We refer to this configuration as NGAT-130. We present the performance of the NGAT-130 and show that it surpasses all other radar and single dish facilities. Finally, we briefly discuss its competitiveness for radio astronomy, planetary and space & atmospheric science applications.

Read this paper on arXiv…

D. Roshi, S. Marshall, A. Vishwas, et. al.
Tue, 16 May 23
7/83

Comments: 6 pages, 5 figures, 1 table, Invited paper for the ICEAA-IEEE APWC conference, Venice, Italy, Oct 9-13, 2023

Unraveling the puzzle of slow components in two-phase argon detectors for dark matter searches using Thick Gas Electron Multiplier [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2305.08083


The effect of proportional electroluminescence (EL) is used to record the primary ionization signal (S2) in the gas phase of two-phase argon detectors for dark matter particle (WIMP) searches and low-energy neutrino experiments. Our previous studies of EL time properties revealed the presence of two unusual slow components in S2 signal of two-phase argon detector, with time constants of about 4-5 $\mu$s and 50 $\mu$s. The puzzle of slow components is that their time constants and contributions to the overall signal increase with electric field (starting from a certain threshold), which cannot be explained by any of the known mechanisms of photon and electron emission in two-phase media. There are indications that these slow components result from delayed electrons, temporarily trapped during their drift in the EL gap on metastable negative argon ions of yet unknown nature. In this work, this hypothesis is convincingly confirmed by studying the time properties of electroluminescence in a Thick Gas Electron Multiplier (THGEM) coupled to the EL gap of two-phase argon detector. In particular, an unusual slow component in EL signal, similar to that observed in the EL gap, was observed in THGEM itself. In addition, with the help of THGEM operated in electron multiplication mode, the slow component was observed directly in the charge signal, unambiguously confirming the effect of trapped electrons in S2 signal. These results will help to unravel the puzzle of slow components in two-phase argon detectors and thus to understand the background in low-mass WIMP searches.

Read this paper on arXiv…

A. Buzulutskov, E. Frolov, E. Borisova, et. al.
Tue, 16 May 23
46/83

Comments: 8 pages, 11 figures

Unsupervised noise reductions for gravitational reference sensors or accelerometers based on Noise2Noise method [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2305.06735


Onboard electrostatic suspension inertial sensors are important applications for gravity satellites and space gravitational wave detection missions, and it is important to suppress noise in the measurement signal. Due to the complex coupling between the working space environment and the satellite platform, the process of noise generation is extremely complex, and traditional noise modeling and subtraction methods have certain limitations. With the development of deep learning, applying it to high-precision inertial sensors to improve the signal-to-noise ratio is a practically meaningful task. Since there is a single noise sample and unknown true value in the measured data in orbit, odd-even sub-samplers and periodic sub-samplers are designed to process general signals and periodic signals, and adds reconstruction layers consisting of fully connected layers to the model. Experimental analysis and comparison are conducted based on simulation data, GRACE-FO acceleration data and Taiji-1 acceleration data. The results show that the deep learning method is superior to traditional data smoothing processing sol

Read this paper on arXiv…

Z. Yang, H. Zhang, P. Xu, et. al.
Fri, 12 May 23
36/53

Comments: 16 pages, 17 figures

On-Site Production of Quasi-Continuous Ultra-High Vacuum Pipes [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2305.06698


We present a design study for a new production technology for ultra-high vacuum pipes. The pipes are produced in a fully automatised process in sections of hundreds of meters directly in the later location of usage. We estimate the effort for such a production and show that it might be substantially lower than the effort for an off-site production of transportable sections.

Read this paper on arXiv…

M. Angerhausen, G. Buchholz, J. Hoste, et. al.
Fri, 12 May 23
40/53

Comments: 12 pages, 4 figures

Flavor-dependent long-range neutrino interactions in DUNE & T2HK: alone they constrain, together they discover [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2305.05184


Discovering new neutrino interactions would represent evidence of physics beyond the Standard Model. We focus on new flavor-dependent long-range neutrino interactions mediated by ultra-light mediators, with masses below $10^{-10}$ eV, introduced by new lepton-number gauge symmetries $L_e-L_\mu$, $L_e-L_\tau$, and $L_\mu-L_\tau$. Because the interaction range is ultra-long, nearby and distant matter – primarily electrons and neutrons – in the Earth, Moon, Sun, Milky Way, and the local Universe, may source a large matter potential that modifies neutrino oscillation probabilities. The upcoming Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) and the Tokai-to-Hyper-Kamiokande (T2HK) long-baseline neutrino experiments will provide an opportunity to search for these interactions, thanks to their high event rates and well-characterized neutrino beams. We forecast their probing power. Our results reveal novel perspectives. Alone, DUNE and T2HK may strongly constrain long-range interactions, setting new limits on their coupling strength for mediators lighter than $10^{-18}$ eV. However, if the new interactions are subdominant, then both DUNE and T2HK, together, will be needed to discover them, since their combination lifts parameter degeneracies that weaken their individual sensitivity. DUNE and T2HK, especially when combined, provide a valuable opportunity to explore physics beyond the Standard Model.

Read this paper on arXiv…

M. Singh, M. Bustamante and S. Agarwalla
Thu, 11 May 23
8/55

Comments: 35 pages, 12 figures, 7 tables, 4 appendices. Comments are welcome

Sensitivity of Transition-Edge Sensors to Strong DC Electric Fields [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2305.06032


Transition-edge sensors (TESs) have found a wide range of applications in both space- and land-based astronomical photon measurement and are being used in the search for dark matter and neutrino mass measurements. A fundamental aspect of TES physics that has not been investigated is the sensitivity of TESs to strong DC electric fields (10 kV/m and above). Understanding the resilience of TESs to DC electric fields is essential when considering their use as charged particle spectrometers, a field in which TESs could have an enormous impact. Techniques such as x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy produce a high number of low-energy electrons that are not of interest and can be screened from the detector using electrostatic deflection. The use of strong electric fields could also provide a mass-efficient route to prevent secondary electron measurements arising from cosmic radiation in space-based TES applications. Integrating electron optics into the TES membrane provides an elegant and compact means to control the interaction between charged particles and the sensor, whether by screening unwanted particles or enhancing the particle absorption efficiency but implementing such techniques requires understanding the sensitivity of the TES to the resulting electric fields. In this work, we applied a uniform DC electric field across a Mo/Au TES using a parallel pair of flat electrodes positioned above and below the TES. The electric field in the vicinity of the TES was enhanced by the presence of silicon backing plate directly beneath the TES. Using this arrangement, we were able to apply of electric fields up to 90 kV/m across the TES. We observed no electric field sensitivity at any field strength demonstrating the capability to use TESs in environments of strong electric fields.

Read this paper on arXiv…

K. Patel, D. Goldie, S. Withington, et. al.
Thu, 11 May 23
41/55

Comments: N/A

Search for astrophysical electron antineutrinos in Super-Kamiokande with 0.01wt% gadolinium loaded water [HEAP]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2305.05135


We report the first search result for the flux of astrophysical electron antineutrinos for energies O(10) MeV in the gadolinium-loaded Super-Kamiokande (SK) detector. In June 2020, gadolinium was introduced to the ultra-pure water of the SK detector in order to detect neutrons more efficiently. In this new experimental phase, SK-Gd, we can search for electron antineutrinos via inverse beta decay with efficient background rejection and higher signal efficiency thanks to the high efficiency of the neutron tagging technique. In this paper, we report the result for the initial stage of SK-Gd with a $22.5\times552$ $\rm kton\cdot day$ exposure at 0.01% Gd mass concentration. No significant excess over the expected background in the observed events is found for the neutrino energies below 31.3 MeV. Thus, the flux upper limits are placed at the 90% confidence level. The limits and sensitivities are already comparable with the previous SK result with pure-water ($22.5 \times 2970 \rm kton\cdot day$) owing to the enhanced neutron tagging.

Read this paper on arXiv…

M. Harada, K. Abe, C. Bronner, et. al.
Wed, 10 May 23
22/65

Comments: N/A

Misalignment and mode mismatch error signals for higher-order Hermite-Gauss modes from two sensing schemes [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2305.03658


The locking of lasers to optical cavities is ubiquitously required in the field of precision interferometry such as Advanced LIGO to yield optimal sensitivity. Using higher-order Hermite-Gauss (HG) modes for the main interferometer beam has been a topic of recent study, due to their potential for reducing thermal noise of the test masses. It has been shown however that higher-order HG modes are more susceptible to coupling losses into optical cavities: the misalignment and mode mismatch induced power losses scale as $2n+1$ and $n^{2}+n+1$ respectively with $n$ being the mode index. In this paper we calculate analytically for the first time the alignment and mode mismatch sensing signals for arbitrary higher-order HG modes with both the traditional sensing schemes (using Gouy phase telescopes and quadrant photodetectors) and the more recently proposed radio-frequency jitter-based sensing schemes (using only single element photodiodes). We show that the sensing signals and also the signal-to-shot noise ratios for higher-order HG modes are larger than for the fundamental mode. In particular, the alignment and mode mismatch sensing signals in the traditional sensing schemes scale approximately as $\sqrt{n}$ and $n$ respectively, whereas in the jitter-based sensing schemes they scale exactly as $2n+1$ and $n^{2}+n+1$, respectively, which exactly matches the decrease in their respective tolerances. This potentially mitigates the downside of higher-order HG modes for their suffering from excessive misalignment and mode-mismatch induced power losses.

Read this paper on arXiv…

L. Tao, A. Green and P. Fulda
Mon, 8 May 23
34/63

Comments: 11 pages 6 figures

Beam displacement tolerances on a segmented mirror for higher-order Hermite-Gauss modes [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2305.03681


Odd-indexed higher-order Hermite-Gauss (HG) modes are compatible with 4-quadrant segmented mirrors due to their intensity nulls along the principal axes, which guarantees minimum beam intensity illuminating the bond lines between the segments thus leading to low power loss. However, a misplaced HG beam can cause extra power loss due to the bright intensity spots probing the bond lines. This paper analytically and numerically studies the beam displacement tolerances on a segmented mirror for the $\mathrm{HG_{3,3}}$ mode. We conclude that for “effective” bond lines with 6 $\mu$m width, and the $\mathrm{HG_{3,3}}$ beam size chosen to guarantee 1 ppm clipping loss when centered, the beam can be rotated by roughly 1 degree or laterally displaced by 4% of its beam size while keeping the total power on the bond lines under 1 ppm. We also demonstrate that the constrained beam displacement parameter region that guarantees a given power loss limit, or the beam displacement tolerance, is inversely proportional to the bond line thickness.

Read this paper on arXiv…

L. Tao, N. Brown and P. Fulda
Mon, 8 May 23
45/63

Comments: 4 pages, 6 pages

Present and future constraints on flavor-dependent long-range interactions of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2305.03675


The discovery of new, flavor-dependent neutrino interactions would provide compelling evidence of physics beyond the Standard Model. We focus on interactions generated by the anomaly-free, gauged, abelian lepton-number symmetries, specifically $L_e-L_\mu$, $L_e-L_\tau$, and $L_\mu-L_\tau$, that introduce a new matter potential sourced by electrons and neutrons, potentially impacting neutrino flavor oscillations. We revisit, revamp, and improve the constraints on these interactions that can be placed via the flavor composition of the diffuse flux of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos, with TeV-PeV energies, i.e., the proportion of $\nu_e$, $\nu_\mu$, and $\nu_\tau$ in the flux. Because we consider mediators of these new interactions to be ultra-light, lighter than $10^{-10}$ eV, the interaction range is ultra-long, from km to Gpc, allowing vast numbers of electrons and neutrons in celestial bodies and the cosmological matter distribution to contribute to this new potential. We leverage the present-day and future sensitivity of high-energy neutrino telescopes and of oscillation experiments to estimate the constraints that could be placed on the coupling strength of these interactions. We find that, already today, the IceCube neutrino telescope demonstrates potential to constrain flavor-dependent long-range interactions significantly better than existing constraints, motivating further analysis. We also estimate the improvement in the sensitivity due to the next-generation neutrino telescopes such as IceCube-Gen2, Baikal-GVD, KM3NeT, P-ONE, and TAMBO.

Read this paper on arXiv…

S. Agarwalla, M. Bustamante, S. Das, et. al.
Mon, 8 May 23
49/63

Comments: 46 pages, 17 figures, 2 tables, 6 appendices. Comments are welcome

Snapshot Averaged Matrix Pencil Method (SAM) For Direction of Arrival Estimation [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2305.02617


The estimation of the direction of electromagnetic (EM) waves from a radio source using electrically short antennas is one of the challenging problems in the field of radio astronomy. In this paper we have developed an algorithm which performs better in direction and polarization estimations than the existing algorithms. Our proposed algorithm Snapshot Averaged Matrix Pencil Method (SAM) is a modification to the existing Matrix Pencil Method (MPM) based Direction of Arrival (DoA) algorithm. In general, MPM estimates DoA of the incoherent EM waves in the spectra using unitary transformations and least square method (LSM). Our proposed SAM modification is made in context to the proposed Space Electric and Magnetic Sensor (SEAMS) mission to study the radio universe below 16 MHz. SAM introduces a snapshot averaging method to improve the incoherent frequency estimation improving the accuracy of estimation. It can also detect polarization to differentiate between Right Hand Circular Polarlization (RHCP), Right Hand Elliptical Polarlization (RHEP), Left Hand Circular Polarlization (LHCP), Left Hand Elliptical Polarlization (LHEP) and Linear Polarlization (LP). This paper discusses the formalism of SAM and shows the initial results of a scaled version of a DoA experiment at a resonant frequency of ~72 MHz.

Read this paper on arXiv…

H. Tanti, A. Datta and S. Ananthakrishnan
Fri, 5 May 23
5/67

Comments: N/A

A fast tunable driver of light source for the TRIDENT Pathfinder experiment [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2305.01967


TRIDENT (The tRopIcal DEep-sea Neutrino Telescope) is a proposed next-generation neutrino telescope to be constructed in the South China Sea. In September 2021, the TRIDENT Pathfinder experiment (TRIDENT EXplorer, T-REX for short) was conducted to evaluate the in-situ optical properties of seawater. The T-REX experiment deployed three digital optical modules at a depth of 3420 meters, including a light emitter module (LEM) and two light receiver modules (LRMs) equipped with photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) and cameras to detect light signals. The LEM emits light in pulsing and steady modes. It features a fast tunable driver to activate light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that emit nanosecond-width light pulses with tunable intensity. The PMTs in the LRM receive single photo-electron (SPE) signals with an average photon number of approximately 0.3 per 1-microsecond time window, which is used to measure the arrival time distribution of the SPE signals. The fast tunable driver can be remotely controlled in real-time by the data acquisition system onboard the research vessel, allowing for convenient adjustments to the driver’s parameters and facilitating the acquisition of high-quality experimental data. This paper describes the requirements, design scheme, and test results of the fast tunable driver, highlighting its successful implementation in the T-REX experiment and its potential for future deep-sea experiments.

Read this paper on arXiv…

J. Tang, W. Wu, L. Li, et. al.
Thu, 4 May 23
43/60

Comments: N/A

Cryogenic payloads for the Einstein Telescope – Baseline design with heat extraction, suspension thermal noise modelling and sensitivity analyses [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2305.01419


The Einstein Telescope (ET) is a third generation gravitational wave detector that includes a room-temperature high-frequency (ET-HF) and a cryogenic low-frequency laser interferometer (ET-LF). The cryogenic ET-LF is crucial for exploiting the full scientific potential of ET. We present a new baseline design for the cryogenic payload that is thermally and mechanically consistent and compatible with the design sensitivity curve of ET. The design includes two options for the heat extraction from the marionette, based on a monocrystalline high-conductivity marionette suspension fiber and a thin-wall titanium tube filled with static He-II, respectively. Following a detailed description of the design options and the suspension thermal noise (STN) modelling, we present the sensitivity curves of the two baseline designs, discuss the influence of various design parameters on the sensitivity of ET-LF and conclude with an outlook to future R&D activities.

Read this paper on arXiv…

X. Koroveshi, L. Busch, E. Majorana, et. al.
Wed, 3 May 23
2/67

Comments: 20 pages, Article to be published/submitted in Physical Review D – Journal

Large-scale detector testing for the GAPS Si(Li) Tracker [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2305.00283


Lithium-drifted silicon [Si(Li)] has been used for decades as an ionizing radiation detector in nuclear, particle, and astrophysical experiments, though such detectors have frequently been limited to small sizes (few cm$^2$) and cryogenic operating temperatures. The 10-cm-diameter Si(Li) detectors developed for the General Antiparticle Spectrometer (GAPS) balloon-borne dark matter experiment are novel particularly for their requirements of low cost, large sensitive area (~10 m$^2$ for the full 1440-detector array), high temperatures (near -40$\,^\circ$C), and energy resolution below 4 keV FWHM for 20–100-keV x-rays. Previous works have discussed the manufacturing, passivation, and small-scale testing of prototype GAPS Si(Li) detectors. Here we show for the first time the results from detailed characterization of over 1100 flight detectors, illustrating the consistent intrinsic low-noise performance of a large sample of GAPS detectors. This work demonstrates the feasibility of large-area and low-cost Si(Li) detector arrays for next-generation astrophysics and nuclear physics applications.

Read this paper on arXiv…

M. Xiao, A. Stoessl, B. Roach, et. al.
Tue, 2 May 23
1/57

Comments: Prepared for submission to IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci

Joint machine learning and analytic track reconstruction for X-ray polarimetry with gas pixel detectors [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2304.14425


We present our study on the reconstruction of photoelectron tracks in gas pixel detectors used for astrophysical X-ray polarimetry. Our work aims to maximize the performance of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to predict the impact point of incoming X-rays from the image of the photoelectron track. A very high precision in the reconstruction of the impact point position is achieved thanks to the introduction of an artificial sharpening process of the images. We find that providing the CNN-predicted impact point as input to the state-of-the-art analytic analysis improves the modulation factor ($\sim 1 \%$ at 3 keV and $\sim 6 \%$ at 6 keV) and naturally mitigates a subtle effect appearing in polarization measurements of bright extended sources known as “polarization leakage”.

Read this paper on arXiv…

N. Cibrario, M. Negro, N. Moriakov, et. al.
Mon, 1 May 23
37/51

Comments: N/A

A New Momentum-Integrated Muon Tomography Imaging Algorithm [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2304.14427


For decades, the application of muon tomography to spent nuclear fuel (SNF) cask imaging has been theoretically evaluated and experimentally verified by many research groups around the world, including Los Alamos National Laboratory in the United States, Canadian Nuclear Laboratory in Canada, the National Institute for Nuclear Physics in Italy, and Toshiba in Japan. Although monitoring of SNF using cosmic ray muons has attracted significant attention as a promising nontraditional nondestructive radiographic technique, the wide application of muon tomography is often limited because of the natural low cosmic ray muon flux at sea level: 100 m-2min-1sr-1. Recent studies suggest measuring muon momentum in muon scattering tomography (MST) applications to address this challenge. Some techniques have been discussed; however, an imaging algorithm for momentum-coupled MST had not been developed. This paper presents a new imaging algorithm for MST which integrates muon scattering angle and momentum in a single M-value. To develop a relationship between muon momentum and scattering angle distribution, various material samples (Al, Fe, Pb, and U) were thoroughly investigated using a Monte Carlo particle transport code GEANT4 simulation. Reconstructed images of an SNF cask using the new algorithm are presented herein to demonstrate the benefit of measuring muon momentum in MST. In this analysis a missing fuel assembly (FA) was located in the dry storage cask.

Read this paper on arXiv…

J. Bae, R. Montgomery and S. Chatzidakis
Mon, 1 May 23
47/51

Comments: Transactions of American Nuclear Society

Analyzing the neutron and $γ$-ray emission properties of an americium-beryllium tagged neutron source [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2304.12153


Americium-beryllium (AmBe), a well-known tagged neutron source, is commonly used for evaluating the neutron detection efficiency of detectors used in ultralow background particle physics experiments, such as reactor neutrino and diffuse supernova neutrino background experiments. In particular, AmBe sources are used to calibrate neutron tagging by selecting the 4438-keV $\gamma$-ray signal, which is simultaneously emitted with a neutron signal. Therefore, analyzing the neutron and $\gamma$-ray emission properties of AmBe sources is crucial. In this study, we used the theoretical shape of a neutron energy spectrum, which was divided into three parts, to develop models of the energy spectrum and verify the results using experimental data. We used an AmBe source to measure the energy spectra of simultaneously emitted neutrons and $\gamma$-rays and determine the emission ratio of the neutrons with and without $\gamma$-ray emission. The measured spectrum was consistent with that obtained from the simulated result, whereas the measured emission ratio was significantly different from the corresponding simulated result. Here, we also discuss the feasibility of determining the neutron emission rates from the spectra divided into three parts.

Read this paper on arXiv…

H. Ito, K. Wada, T. Yano, et. al.
Tue, 25 Apr 23
17/72

Comments: 8 pages, 10 figures, 2 tables

Modeling Charge Cloud Dynamics in Cross Strip Semiconductor Detectors [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2304.09713


When a $\gamma$-ray interacts in a semiconductor detector, the resulting electron-hole charge clouds drift towards their respective electrodes for signal collection. These charge clouds will expand over time due to both thermal diffusion and mutual electrostatic repulsion. Solutions to the resulting charge profiles are well understood for the limiting cases accounting for only diffusion and only repulsion, but the general solution including both effects can only be solved numerically. Previous attempts to model these effects have taken into account the broadening of the charge profile due to both effects, but have simplified the shape of the profile by assuming Gaussian distributions. However, the detailed charge profile can have important impacts on charge sharing in multi-electrode strip detectors. In this work, we derive an analytical approximation to the general solution, including both diffusion and repulsion, that closely replicates both the width and the detailed shape of the charge profiles. This analytical solution simplifies the modeling of charge clouds in semiconductor strip detectors.

Read this paper on arXiv…

S. Boggs
Thu, 20 Apr 23
4/57

Comments: Accepted for publication in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A

Fabrication of a 64-Pixel TES Microcalorimeter Array with Iron Absorbers Uniquely Designed for 14.4-keV Solar Axion Search [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2304.09539


If a hypothetical elementary particle called an axion exists, to solve the strong CP problem, a 57Fe nucleus in the solar core could emit a 14.4-keV monochromatic axion through the M1 transition. If such axions are once more transformed into photons by a 57Fe absorber, a transition edge sensor (TES) X-ray microcalorimeter should be able to detect them efficiently. We have designed and fabricated a dedicated 64-pixel TES array with iron absorbers for the solar axion search. In order to decrease the effect of iron magnetization on spectroscopic performance, the iron absorber is placed next to the TES while maintaining a certain distance. A gold thermal transfer strap connects them. We have accomplished the electroplating of gold straps with high thermal conductivity. The residual resistivity ratio (RRR) was over 23, more than eight times higher than a previous evaporated strap. In addition, we successfully electroplated pure-iron films of more than a few micrometers in thickness for absorbers and a fabricated 64-pixel TES calorimeter structure.

Read this paper on arXiv…

Y. Yagi, T. Hayashi, K. Tanaka, et. al.
Thu, 20 Apr 23
36/57

Comments: 5 pages, 5 figures, published in IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity on 8 March 2023

A brief History of Image Sensors in the Optical [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2304.07121


Image sensors, most notably the Charge Coupled Device (CCD), have revolutionized observational astronomy as perhaps the most important innovation after photography. Since the 50th anniversary of the invention of the CCD has passed in 2019, it is time to review the development of detectors for the visible wavelength range, starting with the discovery of the photoelectric effect and first experiments to utilize it for the photometry of stars at Sternwarte Babelsberg in 1913, over the invention of the CCD, its development at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, to the high performance CCD and CMOS imagers that are available off-the-shelf today.

Read this paper on arXiv…

M. Roth
Mon, 17 Apr 23
34/51

Comments: 9 pages, 10 figures. Presented at SDW2022, accepted for publication in Special Issue of Astronomische Nachrichten

Performance of TES X-Ray Microcalorimeters Designed for 14.4-keV Solar Axion Search [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2304.07068


A 57Fe nucleus in the solar core could emit a 14.4-keV monochromatic axion through the M1 transition if a hypothetical elementary particle, axion, exists to solve the strong CP problem. Transition edge sensor (TES) X-ray microcalorimeters can detect such axions very efficiently if they are again converted into photons by a 57Fe absorber. We have designed and produced a dedicated TES array with 57Fe absorbers for the solar axion search. The iron absorber is set next to the TES, keeping a certain distance to reduce the iron-magnetization effect on the spectroscopic performance. A gold thermal transfer strap connects them. A sample pixel irradiated from a 55Fe source detected 698 pulses. In contrast to thermal simulations, we consider that the pulses include either events produced in an iron absorber or gold strap at a fraction dependent on the absorption rate of each material. Furthermore, photons deposited on the iron absorber are detected through the strap as intended. The identification of all events still needs to be completed. However, we successfully operated the TES with the unique design under iron magnetization for the first time.

Read this paper on arXiv…

Y. Yagi, R. Konno, T. Hayash, et. al.
Mon, 17 Apr 23
48/51

Comments: 10 pages, 6 figures, published in Journal of Low Temperature Physics on 4 February 2023

Super-resolution imaging for the detection of low-energy ion tracks in fine-grained nuclear emulsions [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2304.03645


We propose a new wide-field imaging method that exploits the Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance phenomenon to produce super-resolution images with an optical microscope equipped with a custom design polarization analyzer module. In this paper we describe the method and apply it to the analysis of low-energy carbon ion tracks implanted in a nuclear emulsion film. The result is then compared with the measurements of the same tracks carried out at an electronic microscope. The images set side by side show their close similarity. The resolution achieved with the current microscope setup is estimated to be about 60 nm.

Read this paper on arXiv…

A. Alexandrov, T. Asada, F. Borbone, et. al.
Mon, 10 Apr 23
17/36

Comments: 13 pages, 10 figures

Low-loss Si-based Dielectrics for High Frequency Components of Superconducting Detectors [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2304.01362


Silicon-based dielectric is crucial for many superconducting devices, including high-frequency transmission lines, filters, and resonators. Defects and contaminants in the amorphous dielectric and at the interfaces between the dielectric and metal layers can cause microwave losses and degrade device performance. Optimization of the dielectric fabrication, device structure, and surface morphology can help mitigate this problem. We present the fabrication of silicon oxide and nitride thin film dielectrics. We then characterized them using Scanning Electron Microscopy, Atomic Force Microscopy, and spectrophotometry techniques. The samples were synthesized using various deposition methods, including Plasma-Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition and magnetron sputtering. The films morphology and structure were modified by adjusting the deposition pressure and gas flow. The resulting films were used in superconducting resonant systems consisting of planar inductors and capacitors. Measurements of the resonator properties, including their quality factor, were performed.

Read this paper on arXiv…

M. Lisovenko, Z. Pan, P. Barry, et. al.
Wed, 5 Apr 23
17/62

Comments: 4 pages, 5 figures, conference

Fabrication Development for SPT-SLIM, a Superconducting Spectrometer for Line Intensity Mapping [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2304.00973


Line Intensity Mapping (LIM) is a new observational technique that uses low-resolution observations of line emission to efficiently trace the large-scale structure of the Universe out to high redshift. Common mm/sub-mm emission lines are accessible from ground-based observatories, and the requirements on the detectors for LIM at mm-wavelengths are well matched to the capabilities of large-format arrays of superconducting sensors. We describe the development of an R = 300 on-chip superconducting filter-bank spectrometer covering the 120–180 GHz band optimized for future mm-LIM experiments, focusing on SPT-SLIM, a pathfinder LIM instrument for the South Pole Telescope. Radiation is coupled from the telescope optical system to the spectrometer chip via an array of feedhorn-coupled orthomode transducers. Superconducting microstrip transmission lines then carry the signal to an array of channelizing half-wavelength resonators, and the output of each spectral channel is sensed by a lumped element kinetic inductance detector (leKID). Key areas of development include incorporating new low-loss dielectrics to improve both the achievable spectral resolution and optical efficiency and development of a robust fabrication process to create a galvanic connection between ultra-pure superconducting thin-films to realize multi-material (hybrid) leKIDs. We provide an overview of the spectrometer design, fabrication process, and prototype devices.

Read this paper on arXiv…

T. Cecil, C. Albert, A. Anderson, et. al.
Tue, 4 Apr 23
44/111

Comments: 7 pages, 7 figures, presented at 2022 Applied Superconductivity Conference

Characterization of MKIDs for CMB observation at 220 GHz with the South Pole Telescope [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2304.01158


We present an updated design of the 220 GHz microwave kinetic inductance detector (MKID) pixel for SPT-3G+, the next-generation camera for the South Pole Telescope. We show results of the dark testing of a 63-pixel array with mean inductor quality factor $Q_i = 4.8 \times 10^5$, aluminum inductor transition temperature $T_c = 1.19$ K, and kinetic inductance fraction $\alpha_k = 0.32$. We optically characterize both the microstrip-coupled and CPW-coupled resonators, and find both have a spectral response close to prediction with an optical efficiency of $\eta \sim 70\%$. However, we find slightly lower optical response on the lower edge of the band than predicted, with neighboring dark detectors showing more response in this region, though at level consistent with less than 5\% frequency shift relative to the optical detectors. The detectors show polarized response consistent with expectations, with a cross-polar response of $\sim 10\%$ for both detector orientations.

Read this paper on arXiv…

K. Dibert, P. Barry, A. Anderson, et. al.
Tue, 4 Apr 23
50/111

Comments: 6 pages, 5 figures, ASC 2022 proceedings

Measurement of Dielectric Loss in Silicon Nitride at Centimeter and Millimeter Wavelengths [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2304.01103


This work presents a suite of measurement techniques for characterizing the dielectric loss tangent across a wide frequency range from $\sim$1 GHz to 150 GHz using the same test chip. In the first method, we fit data from a microwave resonator at different temperatures to a model that captures the two-level system (TLS) response to extract and characterize both the real and imaginary components of the dielectric loss. The inverse of the internal quality factor is a second measure of the overall loss of the resonator, where TLS loss through the dielectric material is typically the dominant source. The third technique is a differential optical measurement at 150 GHz. The same antenna feeds two microstrip lines with different lengths that terminate in two microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs). The difference in the detector response is used to estimate the loss per unit length of the microstrip line. Our results suggest a larger loss for SiN$_x$ at 150 GHz of ${\mathrm{\tan \delta\sim 4\times10^{-3}}}$ compared to ${\mathrm{2.0\times10^{-3}}}$ and ${\mathrm{\gtrsim 1\times10^{-3}}}$ measured at $\sim$1 GHz using the other two methods. {These measurement techniques can be applied to other dielectrics by adjusting the microstrip lengths to provide enough optical efficiency contrast and other mm/sub-mm frequency ranges by tuning the antenna and feedhorn accordingly.

Read this paper on arXiv…

Z. Pan, P. Barry, T. Cecil, et. al.
Tue, 4 Apr 23
62/111

Comments: N/A

Electromagnetic Properties of Aluminum-based Bilayers for Kinetic Inductance Detectors [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2304.00431


The complex conductivity of a superconducting thin film is related to the quasiparticle density, which depends on the physical temperature and can also be modified by external pair breaking with photons and phonons. This relationship forms the underlying operating principle of Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KIDs), where the detection threshold is governed by the superconducting energy gap. We investigate the electromagnetic properties of thin-film aluminum that is proximitized with either a normal metal layer of copper or a superconducting layer with a lower $T_C$, such as iridium, in order to extend the operating range of KIDs. Using the Usadel equations along with the Nam expressions for complex conductivity, we calculate the density of states and the complex conductivity of the resulting bilayers to understand the dependence of the pair breaking threshold, surface impedance, and intrinsic quality factor of superconducting bilayers on the relative film thicknesses. The calculations and analyses provide theoretical insights in designing aluminum-based bilayer kinetic inductance detectors for detection of microwave photons and athermal phonons at the frequencies well below the pair breaking threshold of a pure aluminum film.

Read this paper on arXiv…

G. Wang, P. Barry, T. Cecil, et. al.
Tue, 4 Apr 23
65/111

Comments: Submitted as a proceeding for Applied Superconductivity Conference 2022

Noise Optimization for MKIDs with Different Design Geometries and Material Selections [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2304.01133


The separation and optimization of noise components is critical to microwave-kinetic inductance detector (MKID) development. We analyze the effect of several changes to the lumped-element inductor and interdigitated capacitor geometry on the noise performance of a series of MKIDs intended for millimeter-wavelength experiments. We extract the contributions from two-level system noise in the dielectric layer, the generation-recombination noise intrinsic to the superconducting thin-film, and system white noise from each detector noise power spectrum and characterize how these noise components depend on detector geometry, material, and measurement conditions such as driving power and temperature. We observe a reduction in the amplitude of two-level system noise with both an elevated sample temperature and an increased gap between the fingers within the interdigitated capacitors for both aluminum and niobium detectors. We also verify the expected reduction of the generation-recombination noise and associated quasiparticle lifetime with reduced inductor volume. This study also iterates over different materials, including aluminum, niobium, and aluminum manganese, and compares the results with an underlying physical model.

Read this paper on arXiv…

Z. Pan, K. Dibert, J. Zhang, et. al.
Tue, 4 Apr 23
67/111

Comments: N/A

First Dark Matter Search with Nuclear Recoils from the XENONnT Experiment [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2303.14729


We report on the first search for nuclear recoils from dark matter in the form of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) with the XENONnT experiment which is based on a two-phase time projection chamber with a sensitive liquid xenon mass of $5.9$~t. During the approximately 1.1 tonne-year exposure used for this search, the intrinsic $^{85}$Kr and $^{222}$Rn concentrations in the liquid target were reduced to unprecedentedly low levels, giving an electronic recoil background rate of $(15.8\pm1.3)~\mathrm{events}/(\mathrm{t\cdot y \cdot keV})$ in the region of interest. A blind analysis of nuclear recoil events with energies between $3.3$~keV and $60.5$~keV finds no significant excess. This leads to a minimum upper limit on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross section of $2.58\times 10^{-47}~\mathrm{cm}^2$ for a WIMP mass of $28~\mathrm{GeV}/c^2$ at $90\%$ confidence level. Limits for spin-dependent interactions are also provided. Both the limit and the sensitivity for the full range of WIMP masses analyzed here improve on previous results obtained with the XENON1T experiment for the same exposure.

Read this paper on arXiv…

X. Collaboration, E. Aprile, K. Abe, et. al.
Tue, 28 Mar 23
60/81

Comments: Limit points are included in the submission file

Electron transport measurements in liquid xenon with Xenoscope, a large-scale DARWIN demonstrator [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2303.13963


There is a compelling physics case for a large, xenon-based underground detector devoted to dark matter and other rare-event searches. A two-phase time projection chamber as inner detector allows for a good energy resolution, a three-dimensional position determination of the interaction site and particle discrimination. To study challenges related to the construction and operation of a multi-tonne scale detector, we have designed and constructed a vertical, full-scale demonstrator for the DARWIN experiment at the University of Zurich. Here we present first results from a several-months run with 343 kg of xenon and electron drift lifetime and transport measurements with a 53 cm tall purity monitor immersed in the cryogenic liquid. After 88 days of continuous purification, the electron lifetime reached a value of 664(23) microseconds. We measured the drift velocity of electrons for electric fields in the range (25–75) V/cm, and found values consistent with previous measurements. We also calculated the longitudinal diffusion constant of the electron cloud in the same field range, and compared with previous data, as well as with predictions from an empirical model.

Read this paper on arXiv…

L. Baudis, Y. Biondi, A. Bismark, et. al.
Mon, 27 Mar 23
48/59

Comments: N/A

The EUCLID NISP grisms flight models performance [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2303.09130


ESA EUCLID mission will be launched in 2020 to understand the nature of the dark energy responsible of the accelerated expansion of the Universe and to map the geometry of the dark matter. The map will investigate the distanceredshift relationship and the evolution of cosmic structures thanks to two instruments: the NISP and the VIS. The NISP (Near Infrared Spectro-Photometer) is operating in the near-IR spectral range (0.9-2$\mu$m) with two observing modes: the photometric mode for the acquisition of images with broad band filters, and the spectroscopic mode for the acquisition of slitless dispersed images on the detectors. The spectroscopic mode uses four low resolution grisms to cover two spectral ranges: three ”red” grisms for 1250-1850nm range, with three different orientations, and one ”blue” grism for 920- 1300nm range. The NISP grisms are complex optical components combining four main optical functions: a grism function (dispersion without beam deviation of the first diffracted order) done by the grating on the prism hypotenuse, a spectral filter done by a multilayer filter deposited on the first face of the prism to select the spectral bandpass, a focus function done by the curved filter face of the prism (curvature radius of 10m) and a spectral wavefront correction done by the grating which grooves paths are nor parallel, neither straight. The development of these components have been started since 10 years at the Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille (LAM) and was linked to the project phases: prototypes have been developed to demonstrate the feasibility, then engineering and qualification models to validate the optical and mechanical performance of the component, finally the flight models have been manufactured and tested and will be installed on NISP instrument. In this paper, we present the optical performance of the four EUCLID NISP grisms flight models characterized at LAM: wavefront error, spectral transmission and grating groove profiles. The test devices and the methods developed for the characterization of these specific optical components are described. The analysis of the test results have shown that the grisms flight models for NISP are within specifications with an efficiency better than 70% on the spectral bandpass and a wavefront error on surfaces better than 30nm RMS. The components have withstood vibration qualification level up to 11.6g RMS in random test and vacuum cryogenics test down to 130K with measurement of optical quality in transmission. The EUCLID grisms flight models have been delivered to NISP project in November 2017 after the test campaign done at LAM that has demonstrated the compliance to the specifications.

Read this paper on arXiv…

A. Costille, A. Caillat, C. Rossin, et. al.
Fri, 17 Mar 23
5/67

Comments: N/A

Supernova model discrimination with a kilotonne-scale Gd-H$_{2}$O Cherenkov detector [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2301.08079


The supernova model discrimination capabilities of the WATCHMAN detector concept are explored. This cylindrical kilotonne-scale water Cherenkov detector design has been developed to detect reactor antineutrinos through inverse $\beta$-decay for non-proliferation applications but also has the ability to observe antineutrino bursts of core-collapse supernovae within our galaxy. Detector configurations with sizes ranging from 16 m to 22 m tank diameter and 10% to 20% PMT coverage are used to compare the expected observable antineutrino spectra based on the Nakazato, Vartanyan and Warren supernova models. These spectra are then compared to each other with a fixed event count of 100 observed inverse $\beta$-decay events and a benchmark supernova at 10 kpc distance from Earth. By comparing the expected spectra, each detector configuration’s ability to distinguish is evaluated. This analysis then demonstrates that the detector design is capable of meaningful event discrimination (95+% accuracy) with 100 observed supernova antineutrino events in any configuration. Furthermore, a larger tank configuration can maintain this performance at 10 kpc distance and above, indicating that overall target mass is the main factor for such a detector’s discrimination capabilities.

Read this paper on arXiv…

Y. Schnellbach, J. Migenda, A. Carroll, et. al.
Fri, 20 Jan 23
42/72

Comments: 12 pages, 7 figures, 6 tables. For submission to JCAP

High-uniformity TiN/Ti/TiN multilayers for the development of Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detector [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2301.07579


Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs) are a class of superconducting cryogenic detectors that simultaneously exhibit energy resolution, time resolution and spatial resolution. The pixel yield of MKID arrays is usually a critical figure of merit in the characterisation of an MKIDs array. Currently, for MKIDs intended for the detection of optical and near-infrared photons, only the best arrays exhibit a pixel yield as high as 75-80%. The uniformity of the superconducting film used for the fabrication of MKIDs arrays is often regarded as the main limiting factor to the pixel yield of an array. In this paper we will present data on the uniformity of the TiN/Ti/TiN multilayers deposited at the Tyndall National Institute and compare these results with a statistical model that evaluates how inhomogeneities affect the pixel yield of an array.

Read this paper on arXiv…

M. Luciab, E. Baldwin, G. Ulbricht, et. al.
Thu, 19 Jan 23
75/100

Comments: 11 pages, 7 figures. Proceedings Volume 12191, X-Ray, Optical, and Infrared Detectors for Astronomy X; 1219105 (2022)

Repurposing ROACH-1 boards for prototyping of readout systems for optical-NIR MKIDs [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2301.06893


Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs) are cryogenic photon detectors and are attractive because they permit simultaneous time, energy and spatial resolution of faint astronomical sources. We present a cost-effective alternative to dedicated (e.g. analogue) electronics for prototyping readout of single-pixel Optical/NIR MKIDs by repurposing existing and well-known ROACH-1 boards. We also present a pipeline that modernises previously-developed software and data frameworks to allow for extensiblity to new applications and portability to new hardware (e.g. Xilinx ZCU111 or 2×2 RFSoC boards).

Read this paper on arXiv…

O. Creaner, C. Bracken, J. Piercy, et. al.
Wed, 18 Jan 23
20/133

Comments: 7 pages, 4 figures, Presented at SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2022, Montr\’eal, Qu\’ebec, Canada

First demonstration of neural sensing and control in a kilometer-scale gravitational wave observatory [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2301.06221


Suspended optics in gravitational wave (GW) observatories are susceptible to alignment perturbations and, in particular, to slow drifts over time due to variations in temperature and seismic levels. Such misalignments affect the coupling of the incident laser beam into the optical cavities, degrade both circulating power and optomechanical photon squeezing, and thus decrease the astrophysical sensitivity to merging binaries. Traditional alignment techniques involve differential wavefront sensing using multiple quadrant photodiodes, but are often restricted in bandwidth and are limited by the sensing noise. We present the first-ever successful implementation of neural network-based sensing and control at a gravitational wave observatory and demonstrate low-frequency control of the signal recycling mirror at the GEO 600 detector. Alignment information for three critical optics is simultaneously extracted from the interferometric dark port camera images via a CNN-LSTM network architecture and is then used for MIMO control using soft actor-critic-based deep reinforcement learning. Overall sensitivity improvement achieved using our scheme demonstrates deep learning’s capabilities as a viable tool for real-time sensing and control for current and next-generation GW interferometers.

Read this paper on arXiv…

N. Mukund, J. Lough, A. Bisht, et. al.
Wed, 18 Jan 23
22/133

Comments: 14 pages, 11 figures

Mass production of ultra-pure NaI powder for COSINE-200 [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2301.05400


COSINE-200 is the next phase experiment of the ongoing COSINE-100 that aims to unambiguously verify the annual modulation signals observed by the DAMA experiment and to reach the world competitive sensitivity on the low-mass dark matter search. To achieve the physics goal of the COSINE-200, the successful production of the low-background NaI(Tl) detectors is crucial and it must begin from the mass production of the ultra-low background NaI powder. A clean facility for mass-producing the pure-NaI powder has been constructed at the Center for Underground Physics (CUP) in Korea. Two years of operation determined efficient parameters of the mass purification and provided a total of 480 kg of the ultra-pure NaI powder in hand. The potassium concentration in the produced powders varied from 5.4 to 11 ppb, and the maximum production capacity of 35 kg per two weeks was achieved. Here, we report our operational practice with the mass purification of the NaI powder, which includes raw powder purification, recycling of the mother solution, and recovery of NaI from the residual melt that remained after crystal growth.

Read this paper on arXiv…

K. Shin, J. Choe, O. Gileva, et. al.
Mon, 16 Jan 23
45/50

Comments: N/A

Mass production of ultra-pure NaI powder for COSINE-200 [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2301.05400


COSINE-200 is the next phase experiment of the ongoing COSINE-100 that aims to unambiguously verify the annual modulation signals observed by the DAMA experiment and to reach the world competitive sensitivity on the low-mass dark matter search. To achieve the physics goal of the COSINE-200, the successful production of the low-background NaI(Tl) detectors is crucial and it must begin from the mass production of the ultra-low background NaI powder. A clean facility for mass-producing the pure-NaI powder has been constructed at the Center for Underground Physics (CUP) in Korea. Two years of operation determined efficient parameters of the mass purification and provided a total of 480 kg of the ultra-pure NaI powder in hand. The potassium concentration in the produced powders varied from 5.4 to 11 ppb, and the maximum production capacity of 35 kg per two weeks was achieved. Here, we report our operational practice with the mass purification of the NaI powder, which includes raw powder purification, recycling of the mother solution, and recovery of NaI from the residual melt that remained after crystal growth.

Read this paper on arXiv…

K. Shin, J. Choe, O. Gileva, et. al.
Mon, 16 Jan 23
7/50

Comments: N/A

Performance of an ultra-pure NaI(Tl) detector produced by an indigenously-developed purification method and crystal growth for the COSINE-200 experiment [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2301.04884


The COSINE-100 experiment has been operating with 106 kg of low-background NaI(Tl) detectors to test the results from the DAMA/LIBRA experiment, which claims to have observed dark matter. However, since the background of the NaI(Tl) crystals used in the COSINE-100 experiment is 2-3 times higher than that in the DAMA detectors, no conclusion regarding the claimed observation from the DAMA/LIBRA experiment could be reached. Therefore, we plan to upgrade the current COSINE-100 experiment to the next phase, COSINE-200, by using ultra-low background NaI(Tl) detectors. The basic principle was already proved with the commercially available Astro-grade NaI powder from Sigma-Aldrich company. However, we have developed a mass production process of ultra-pure NaI powder at the Center for Underground Physics (CUP) of the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Korea, using the direct purification of the raw NaI powder. We plan to produce more than 1,000 kg of ultra-pure powder for the COSINE200 experiment. With our crystal grower installed at CUP, we have successfully grown a low-background crystal using our purification technique for the NaI powder. We have assembled a low-background NaI(Tl) detector. In this article, we report the performance of this ultra-pure NaI(Tl) crystal detector produced at IBS, Korea.

Read this paper on arXiv…

H. Lee, B. Park, J. Choi, et. al.
Fri, 13 Jan 23
52/72

Comments: N/A

A Simulation Study for the Expected Performance of Sharjah-Sat-1 payload improved X-Ray Detector (iXRD) in the Orbital Background Radiation [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2301.02880


Sharjah-Sat-1 is a 3U cubesat with a CdZnTe based hard X-ray detector, called iXRD (improved X-ray Detector) as a scientific payload with the primary objective of monitoring bright X-ray sources in the galaxy. We investigated the effects of the in-orbit background radiation on the iXRD based on Geant4 simulations. Several background components were included in the simulations such as the cosmic diffuse gamma-rays, galactic cosmic rays (protons and alpha particles), trapped protons and electrons, and albedo radiation arising from the upper layer of the atmosphere. The most dominant component is the albedo photon radiation which contributes at low and high energies alike in the instrument energy range of 20 keV – 200 keV. On the other hand, the cosmic diffuse gamma-ray contribution is the strongest between 20 keV and 60 keV in which most of the astrophysics source flux is expected. The third effective component is the galactic cosmic protons. The radiation due to the trapped particles, the albedo neutrons, and the cosmic alpha particles are negligible when the polar regions and the South Atlantic Anomaly region are excluded in the analysis. The total background count rates are ~0.36 and ~0.85 counts/s for the energy bands of 20 – 60 keV and 20 – 200 keV, respectively. We performed charge transportation simulations to determine the spectral response of the iXRD and used it in sensitivity calculations as well. The simulation framework was validated with experimental studies. The estimated sensitivity of 180 mCrab between the energy band of 20 keV – 100 keV indicates that the iXRD could achieve its scientific goals.

Read this paper on arXiv…

A. Altingun, E. Kalemci and E. Oztaban
Tue, 10 Jan 23
1/93

Comments: This preprint has not undergone peer review or any post-submission improvements or corrections. The Version of Record of this article is published in Experimental Astronomy, and is available online at this https URL

A prototype tank for the SWGO detector [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2301.02449


The Southern Wide-field Gamma-ray Observatory (SWGO) is an international collaboration working on realizing a next-generation observatory located in the Southern hemisphere, which offers a privileged view of our galactic center. We are working on the construction of a prototype water Cherenkov detector at Politecnico di Milano using a flexible testing facility for several candidate light sensors and configurations. A structure able to hold different types of detectors in multiple configurations has been designed, built and tested in Politecnico’s labs. Furthermore, an analytical study of muons and electrons showers has been carried out using the SWGO observatory simulation software to examine the correlation between the detection capabilities of the prototype tank and its water level.

Read this paper on arXiv…

S. Grusovin, G. Consolati, A. Angelis, et. al.
Mon, 9 Jan 23
21/59

Comments: N/A

Enabling Ice Core Science on Mars and Ocean Worlds [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2301.01869


Ice deposits on Earth provide an extended record of volcanism, planetary climate, and life. On Mars, such a record may extend as far back as tens to hundreds of millions of years (My), compared to only a few My on Earth. Here, we propose and demonstrate a compact instrument, the Melter-Sublimator for Ice Science (MSIS), and describe its potential use cases. Similar to current use in the analysis of ice cores, linking MSIS to downstream elemental, chemical, and biological analyses could address whether Mars is, or was in the recent past, volcanically active, enable the creation of a detailed climate history of the late Amazonian, and seek evidence of subsurface life preserved in ice sheets. The sublimation feature can not only serve as a preconcentrator for in-situ analyses, but also enable the collection of rare material such as cosmogenic nuclides, which could be returned to Earth and used to confirm and expand the record of nearby supernovas and long-term trends in space weather. Missions to Ocean Worlds such as Europa or Enceladus will involve ice processing, and there MSIS would deliver liquid samples for downstream wet chemistry analyses. Our combined melter-sublimator system can thus help to address diverse questions in heliophysics, habitability, and astrobiology.

Read this paper on arXiv…

A. Chipps, C. Tunis, N. Chellman, et. al.
Fri, 6 Jan 23
17/55

Comments: 10 pages, 5 figures

On-sky performance of new 90 GHz detectors for the Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS) [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2301.01417


The Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS) is a polarization-sensitive telescope array located at an altitude of 5,200 m in the Chilean Atacama Desert and designed to measure the polarized Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) over large angular scales. The CLASS array is currently observing with three telescopes covering four frequency bands: one at 40 GHz (Q); one at 90 GHz (W1); and one dichroic system at 150/220 GHz (HF). During the austral winter of 2022, we upgraded the first 90 GHz telescope (W1) by replacing four of the seven focal plane modules. These new modules contain detector wafers with an updated design, aimed at improving the optical efficiency and detector stability. We present a description of the design changes and measurements of on-sky optical efficiencies derived from observations of Jupiter.

Read this paper on arXiv…

C. Núñez, J. Appel, M. Brewer, et. al.
Thu, 5 Jan 23
16/51

Comments: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to the IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity

On second-order combinatorial algebraic time-delay interferometry [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2301.00814


Inspired by the combinatorial algebraic approach proposed by Dhurandhar et al., we propose two novel classes of second-generation time-delay interferometry (TDI) solution as well as their further generalization. The primary strategy of the algorithm is to enumerate specific types of residual laser frequency noise associated with second-order commutators in products of time-displacement operators. The derivations are based on analyzing the delay time residual when expanded in time derivatives of the armlengths order by order. It is observed that the solutions obtained by such a scheme are primarily captured by the geometric TDI approach and therefore possess an intuitive interpretation. Nonetheless, the fully-symmetric Sagnac and Sagnac-inspired combinations inherit the properties from the original algebraic approach, and subsequently lie outside of the scope of geometric TDI. Moreover, at its lowest order, the solution is furnished by commutator of rather compact form. Besides the original Michelson-type solution, we elaborate on other types of solutions such as the Monitor, Beacon, Relay, Sagnac, fully-symmetric Sagnac, and Sagnac-inspired ones. The average response functions, residual noise power spectral density, and sensitivity curves are evaluated for the obtained solutions. Also, the relations between the present scheme and other existing algorithms are discussed.

Read this paper on arXiv…

W. Qian, P. Wang, Z. Wu, et. al.
Wed, 4 Jan 23
25/43

Comments: 21 pages, 3 figures

ISAI: Investigating Solar Axion by Iron-57 [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2212.13708


The existence of the axion is a unique solution for the strong CP problem, and the axion is one of the most promising candidates of the dark matter. Investigating Solar Axion by Iron-57 (ISAI) is being prepared as a complemented table-top experiment to confirm the solar axion scenario. Probing an X-ray emission from the nuclear transitions associated with the axion-nucleon coupling is a leading approach. ISAI searches for the monochromatic 14.4 keV X-ray from the first excited state of 57Fe using a state-of-the-art pixelized silicon detector, dubbed XRPIX, under an extremely low-background environment. We highlight scientific objectives, experimental design and the latest status of ISAI.

Read this paper on arXiv…

T. Ikeda, T. Fujii, T. Tsuru, et. al.
Thu, 29 Dec 22
19/47

Comments: N/A

ELOISE — Reliable background simulation at sub-keV energies [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2212.12634


$CaWO_4$ and $Al_2O_3$ are well-established target materials used by experiments searching for rare events like the elastic scattering off of a hypothetical Dark Matter particle. In recent years, experiments have reached detection thresholds for nuclear recoils at the 10 eV-scale. At this energy scale, a reliable Monte Carlo simulation of the expected background is crucial. However, none of the publicly available general-purpose simulation packages are validated at this energy scale and for these targets. The recently started ELOISE project aims to provide reliable simulations of electromagnetic particle interactions for this use case by obtaining experimental reference data, validating the simulation code against them, and, if needed, calibrating the code to the reference data.

Read this paper on arXiv…

H. Kluck
Tue, 27 Dec 22
19/30

Comments: IDM2022 proceedings submitted to SciPost

ELOISE — Reliable background simulation at sub-keV energies [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2212.12634


$CaWO_4$ and $Al_2O_3$ are well-established target materials used by experiments searching for rare events like the elastic scattering off of a hypothetical Dark Matter particle. In recent years, experiments have reached detection thresholds for nuclear recoils at the 10 eV-scale. At this energy scale, a reliable Monte Carlo simulation of the expected background is crucial. However, none of the publicly available general-purpose simulation packages are validated at this energy scale and for these targets. The recently started ELOISE project aims to provide reliable simulations of electromagnetic particle interactions for this use case by obtaining experimental reference data, validating the simulation code against them, and, if needed, calibrating the code to the reference data.

Read this paper on arXiv…

H. Kluck
Tue, 27 Dec 22
11/30

Comments: IDM2022 proceedings submitted to SciPost

The Low Energy Module (LEM): development of a CubeSat spectrometer for sub-MeV particles and Gamma Ray Burst detection [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2212.12351


Accurate flux measurement of low energy charged particles, trapped in the magnetosphere, is necessary for Space Weather characterization and to study the coupling between the lithosphere and magnetosphere, allowing the investigation of the correlations between seismic events and particle precipitation from Van Allen Belts. In this work, the project of a CubeSat space spectrometer, the Low Energy Module (LEM), is shown. The detector will be able to perform an event-based measurement of energy, arrival direction, and composition of low-energy charged particles down to 0.1 MeV. Moreover, thanks to a CdZnTe mini-calorimeter, the LEM spectrometer also allows photon detection in the sub-MeV range, joining the quest for the investigation of the nature of Gamma Ray Bursts. The particle identification of the LEM relies on the $\Delta E – E$ technique performed by thin silicon detectors. This multipurpose spectrometer will fit within a 10x10x10 $\text{cm}^3$ CubeSat frame and it will be constructed as a joining project between the University of Trento, FBK, and INFN-TIFPA. To fulfil the size and mass requirements an innovative approach, based on active particle collimation, was designed for the LEM, this avoids heavy/bulky passive collimators of previous space detectors. In this paper, we will present the LEM geometry, its detection concept, and the results from the developed GEANT4 simulation.

Read this paper on arXiv…

R. Nicolaidis, F. Nozzoli, R. Iuppa, et. al.
Mon, 26 Dec 22
14/39

Comments: N/A

Radiofrequency Ice Dielectric Measurements at Summit Station, Greenland [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2212.10285


We recently reported on the radio-frequency attenuation length of cold polar ice at Summit Station, Greenland, based on bistatic radar measurements of radio-frequency bedrock echo strengths taken during the summer of 2021. Those data also include echoes attributed to stratified impurities or dielectric discontinuities within the ice sheet (layers), which allow studies of a) estimation of the relative contribution of coherent (discrete layers, e.g.) vs. incoherent (bulk volumetric, e.g.) scattering, b) the magnitude of internal layer reflection coefficients, c) limits on the azimuthal asymmetry of reflections (birefringence), and d) limits on signal dispersion in-ice over a bandwidth of ~100 MHz. We find that i) after averaging 10000 echo triggers, reflected signal observable over the thermal floor (to depths of approximately 1500 m) are consistent with being entirely coherent, ii) internal layer reflection coefficients are measured at approximately -60 to -70 dB, iii) birefringent effects for vertically propagating signals are smaller by an order of magnitude relative to comparable studies performed at South Pole, and iv) within our experimental limits, glacial ice is non-dispersive over the frequency band relevant for neutrino detection experiments.

Read this paper on arXiv…

J. Aguilar, P. Allison, D. Besson, et. al.
Wed, 21 Dec 22
56/81

Comments: N/A

TelePix — A fast region of interest trigger and timing layer for the EUDET Telescopes [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2212.10248


Test beam facilities are essential to study the response of novel detectors to particles. At the DESY II Test Beam facility, users can test their detectors with an electron beam with a momentum from 1-6 GeV. To track the beam particles, EUDET-style telescopes are provided in each beam area. They provide excellent spatial resolution, but the time resolution is limited by the rolling shutter architecture to a precision of approximately 230 $\mu$s. Since the demand on particle rates — and hence track multiplicities — is increasing timing is becoming more relevant. DESY foresees several upgrades of the telescopes. TelePix is an upgrade project to provide track timestamping with a precision of better than 5 ns and a configurable region of interest to trigger the telescope readout. Small scale prototypes have been characterised in laboratory and test beam measurements. Laboratory tests with an injection corresponding to 2300 electrons show a S/N of above 20. Test beam characterization shows efficiencies of above 99% over a threshold range of more than 100 mV and time resolutions of 2.4 ns at low noise rates.

Read this paper on arXiv…

H. Augustin, S. Dittmeier, J. Hammerich, et. al.
Wed, 21 Dec 22
65/81

Comments: Preprint submitted to Proceedings of the 15th Pisa Meeting on Advanced Detectors

Temperature dependence of radiation damage annealing of Silicon Photomultipliers [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2212.08474


The last decade has increasingly seen the use of silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) instead of photomultiplier tubes (PMTs). This is due to various advantages of the former on the latter like its smaller size, lower operating voltage, higher detection efficiency, insensitivity to magnetic fields and mechanical robustness to launch vibrations. All these features make SiPMs ideal for use on space based experiments where the detectors require to be compact, lightweight and capable of surviving launch conditions. A downside with the use of this novel type of detector in space conditions is its susceptibility to radiation damage. In order to understand the lifetime of SiPMs in space, both the damage sustained due to radiation as well as the subsequent recovery, or annealing, from this damage have to be studied. Here we present these studies for three different types of SiPMs from the Hamamatsu S13360 series. Both their behaviour after sustaining radiation equivalent to 2 years in low earth orbit in a typical mission is presented, as well as the recovery of these detectors while stored in different conditions. The storage conditions varied in temperature as well as in operating voltage. The study found that the annealing depends significantly on the temperature of the detectors with those stored at high temperatures recovering significantly faster and at recovering closer to the original performance. Additionally, no significant effect from a reasonable bias voltage on the annealing was observed. Finally the annealing rate as a function of temperature is presented along with various operating strategies for the future SiPM based astrophysical detector POLAR-2 as well as for future SiPM based space borne missions.

Read this paper on arXiv…

N. Angelis, M. Kole, F. Cadoux, et. al.
Mon, 19 Dec 22
27/62

Comments: 33 pages, 24 figures

Outdoor Systems Performace and Upgrade [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2212.05131


Over the last two decades, the possibility of using RPCs in outdoors systems has increased considerably. Our group has participated in this effort having installed several systems and continues to work on their optimization, while simultaneously studying and developing new approaches that can to use of RPCs in outdoor applications.
In particular, some detectors were deployed in the field at the Pierre Auger Observatory in 2019 remained inactive, awaiting the commissioning of support systems. During the pandemic the detectors were left without gas flow for more than two years, but were recently reactivated with no major problems.
The LouMu project combines particle physics and geophysics in order to map large geologic structures, using Muon Tomography. The development of the RPC system used and the data from the last two years will be presented.
Finally, recent advances in a large area (1 m2) double gap-sealed RPC will be presented.

Read this paper on arXiv…

L. Lopes, S. Andringa, P. Assis, et. al.
Tue, 13 Dec 22
37/105

Comments: N/A

A superconducting nanowire photon number resolving four-quadrant detector-based Gigabit deep-space laser communication receiver prototype [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2212.04927


Deep space explorations require transferring huge amounts of data quickly from very distant targets. Laser communication is a promising technology that can offer a data rate of magnitude faster than conventional microwave communication due to the fundamentally narrow divergence of light. This study demonstrated a photon-sensitive receiver prototype with over Gigabit data rate, immunity to strong background photon noise, and simultaneous tracking ability. The advantages are inherited from a joint-optimized superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD) array, designed into a four-quadrant structure with each quadrant capable of resolving six photons. Installed in a free-space coupled and low-vibration cryostat, the system detection efficiency reached 72.7%, the detector efficiency was 97.5%, and the total photon counting rate was 1.6 Gcps. Additionally, communication performance was tested for pulse position modulation (PPM) format. A series of signal processing methods were introduced to maximize the performance of the forward error correction (FEC) code. Consequently, the receiver exhibits a faster data rate and better sensitivity by about twofold (1.76 photons/bit at 800 Mbps and 3.40 photons/bit at 1.2 Gbps) compared to previously reported results (3.18 photon/bit at 622 Mbps for the Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration). Furthermore, communications in strong background noise and with simultaneous tracking ability were demonstrated aimed at the challenges of daylight operation and accurate tracking of dim beacon light in deep space scenarios.

Read this paper on arXiv…

H. Hao, Q. Zhao, Y. Huang, et. al.
Mon, 12 Dec 22
2/52

Comments: N/A

The design and performance of the XL-Calibur anticoincidence shield [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2212.04139


The XL-Calibur balloon-borne hard X-ray polarimetry mission comprises a Compton-scattering polarimeter placed at the focal point of an X-ray mirror. The polarimeter is housed within a BGO anticoincidence shield, which is needed to mitigate the considerable background radiation present at the observation altitude of ~40 km. This paper details the design, construction and testing of the anticoincidence shield, as well as the performance measured during the week-long maiden flight from Esrange Space Centre to the Canadian Northwest Territories in July 2022. The in-flight performance of the shield followed design expectations, with a veto threshold <100 keV and a measured background rate of ~0.5 Hz (20-40 keV). This is compatible with the scientific goals of the mission, where %-level minimum detectable polarisation is sought for a Hz-level source rate.

Read this paper on arXiv…

N. Iyer, M. Kiss, M. Pearce, et. al.
Fri, 9 Dec 22
19/75

Comments: Submitted to Nuclear Instruments and Methods A

A large facility for photosensors test at cryogenic temperature [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2212.02296


Current generation of detectors using noble gases in liquid phase for direct dark matter search and neutrino physics need large area photosensors. Silicon based photo-detectors are innovative light collecting devices and represent a successful technology in these research fields. %of direct dark matter search detectors based on liquified noble gases. The DarkSide collaboration started a dedicated development and customization of SiPM technology for its specific needs resulting in the design, production and assembly of large surface modules of 20$\times$20 cm$^{2}$ named Photo Detection Unit for the DarkSide-20k experiment. Production of a large number of such devices, as needed to cover about 20 m$^{2}$ of active surface inside the DarkSide-20k detector, requires a robust testing and validation process. In order to match this requirement a dedicated test facility for the photosensor test was designed and commissioned at INFN-Naples laboratory. The first commissioning test was successfully performed in 2021. Since then a number of testing campaigns were performed. Detailed description of the facility is reported as well as results of some tests.

Read this paper on arXiv…

Z. Balmforth, A. Basco, A. Boiano, et. al.
Thu, 8 Dec 22
2/63

Comments: Prepared for submission to JINST – LIDINE2022 – September 21-23, 2022 – University of Warsaw Library

X-ray Performance of a Small Pixel Size sCMOS Sensor and the Effect of Depletion Depth [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2211.16901


In recent years, scientific Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (sCMOS) devices have been increasingly applied in X-ray detection, thanks to their attributes such as high frame rate, low dark current, high radiation tolerance and low readout noise. We tested the basic performance of a backside-illuminated (BSI) sCMOS sensor, which has a small pixel size of 6.5 um * 6.5 um. At a temperature of -20C, The readout noise is 1.6 e, the dark current is 0.5 e/pixel/s, and the energy resolution reaches 204.6 eV for single-pixel events. The effect of depletion depth on the sensor’s performance was also examined, using three versions of the sensors with different deletion depths. We found that the sensor with a deeper depletion region can achieve a better energy resolution for events of all types of pixel splitting patterns, and has a higher efficiency in collecting photoelectrons produced by X-ray photons. We further study the effect of depletion depth on charge diffusion with a center-of-gravity (CG) model. Based on this work, a highly depleted sCMOS is recommended for applications of soft X-ray spectroscop.

Read this paper on arXiv…

Y. Hsiao, Z. Ling, C. Zhang, et. al.
Thu, 1 Dec 22
24/85

Comments: 11 pages, 13 figures. Accepted for publication in JInst

Constraining Single-Field Inflation with MegaMapper [CEA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2211.14899


We forecast the constraints on single-field inflation from the bispectrum of future high-redshift surveys such as MegaMapper. Considering non-local primordial non-Gaussianity (NLPNG), we find that current methods will yield constraints of order $\sigma(f_{\rm NL}^{\rm eq})\approx 23$, $\sigma(f_{\rm NL}^{\rm orth})\approx 12$ in a joint power-spectrum and bispectrum analysis, varying both nuisance parameters and cosmology, including a conservative range of scales. Fixing cosmological parameters and quadratic bias parameter relations, the limits tighten significantly to $\sigma(f_{\rm NL}^{\rm eq})\approx 17$, $\sigma(f_{\rm NL}^{\rm orth})\approx 8$. These compare favorably with the forecasted bounds from CMB-S4: $\sigma(f_{\rm NL}^{\rm eq})\approx 21$, $\sigma(f_{\rm NL}^{\rm orth})\approx 9$, with a combined constraint of $\sigma(f_{\rm NL}^{\rm eq})\approx 14$, $\sigma(f_{\rm NL}^{\rm orth})\approx 7$; this weakens only slightly if one instead combines with data from the Simons Observatory. We additionally perform a range of Fisher analyses for the error, forecasting the dependence on nuisance parameter marginalization, scale cuts, and survey strategy. Lack of knowledge of bias and counterterm parameters is found to significantly limit the information content; this could be ameliorated by tight simulation-based priors on the nuisance parameters. The error-bars decrease significantly as the number of observed galaxies and survey depth is increased: as expected, deep dense surveys are the most constraining, though it will be difficult to reach $\sigma(f_{\rm NL})\approx 1$ with current methods. The NLPNG constraints will tighten further with improved theoretical models (incorporating higher-loop corrections), as well as the inclusion of additional higher-order statistics.

Read this paper on arXiv…

G. Cabass, M. Ivanov, O. Philcox, et. al.
Tue, 29 Nov 22
26/80

Comments: 6 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Lett. B

Design and test results of different aluminum coating layers on the sCMOS sensors for soft X-ray detection [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2211.15132


In recent years, tremendous progress has been made on complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) sensors for applications as X-ray detectors. To shield the visible light in X-ray detection, a blocking filter of aluminum is commonly employed. We designed three types of aluminum coating layers, which are deposited directly on the surface of back-illuminated sCMOS sensors during fabrication. A commercial 2k * 2k sCMOS sensor is used to realize these designs. In this work, we report their performance by comparison with that of an uncoated sCMOS sensor. The optical transmissions at 660 nm and 850 nm are measured, and the results show that the optical transmission reaches a level of about 10-9 for the 200 nm aluminum layer and about 10-4 for the 100 nm aluminum layer. Light leakage is found around the four sides of the sensor. The readout noise, fixed-pattern noise and energy resolution of these Al-coated sCMOS sensors do not show significant changes. The dark currents of these Al-coated sCMOS sensors show a noticeable increase compared with that of the uncoated sCMOS sensor at room temperatures, while no significant difference is found when the sCMOS sensors are cooled down to about -15 degree. The aluminum coatings show no visible crack after the thermal cycle and aging tests. Based on these results, an aluminum coating of a larger area on larger sCMOS sensors is proposed for future work.

Read this paper on arXiv…

W. Wang, Z. Ling, C. Zhang, et. al.
Tue, 29 Nov 22
47/80

Comments: Accept for publication in JInst

Characterisation of the MUSIC ASIC for large-area silicon photomultipliers for gamma-ray astronomy [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2211.14022


Large-area silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) are desired in many applications where large surfaces have to be covered. For instance, a large area SiPM has been developed by Hamamatsu Photonics in collaboration with the University of Geneva, to equip gamma-ray cameras employed in imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. Being the sensor about 1 cm$^2$, a suitable preamplification electronics has been investigated in this work, which can deal with long pulses induced by the large capacitance of the sensor. The so-called Multiple Use SiPM Integrated Circuit (MUSIC), developed by the ICCUB (University of Barcelona), is investigated as a potential front-end ASIC, suitable to cover large area photodetection planes of gamma-ray telescopes. The ASIC offers an interesting pole-zero cancellation (PZC) that allows dealing with long SiPM signals, the feature of active summation of up to 8 input channels into a single differential output and it can offer a solution for reducing power consumption compared to discrete solutions. Measurements and simulations of MUSIC coupled to two SiPMs developed by Hamamatsu are considered and the ASIC response is characterized. The 5$^{th}$ generation sensor of the Low Cross Talk technology coupled to MUSIC turns out to be a good solution for gamma-ray cameras.

Read this paper on arXiv…

N. Angelis, D. Gascón, S. Gómez, et. al.
Mon, 28 Nov 22
79/93

Comments: 16 pages, 15 figures

Directional direct detection of light dark matter up-scattered by cosmic-rays from direction of the Galactic center [CEA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2211.13399


Dark matters with MeV- or keV-scale mass are difficult to detect with standard direct search detectors. However, they can be searched for by considering the up-scattering of kinetic energies by cosmic-rays. Since dark matter density is higher in the central region of the Galaxy, the up-scattered dark matter will arrive at Earth from the direction of the Galactic center. Once the dark matter is detected, we can expect to recognize this feature by directional direct detection experiments. In this study, we simulate the nuclear recoils of the up-scattered dark matter and quantitatively reveal that a large amount of this type of dark matter is arriving from the direction of the Galactic center. Also, we have shown that the characteristic signatures of the up-scattered dark matter can be verified with more than 5 $\sigma$ confidence levels in the case of all assumed target atoms in the scope of the future upgrade of the directional detectors.

Read this paper on arXiv…

K. Nagao, S. Higashino, T. Naka, et. al.
Mon, 28 Nov 22
81/93

Comments: 16 pages, 64 figures

A Review of NEST Models, and Their Application to Improvement of Particle Identification in Liquid Xenon Experiments [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2211.10726


Liquid xenon is a leader in rare-event physics searches. Accurate modeling of charge and light production is key for simulating signals and backgrounds in this medium. The signal- and background-production models in the Noble Element Simulation Technique (NEST) are presented. NEST is a simulation toolkit based on experimental data, fit using simple, empirical formulae for the average charge and light yields and their variations. NEST also simulates the final scintillation pulses and exhibits the correct energy resolution as a function of the particle type, the energy, and the electric fields. After vetting of NEST against raw data, with several specific examples pulled from XENON, ZEPLIN, LUX/LZ, and PandaX, we interpolate and extrapolate its models to draw new conclusions on the properties of future detectors (e.g., XLZD’s), in terms of the best possible discrimination of electron(ic) recoil backgrounds from a potential nuclear recoil signal, especially WIMP dark matter. We discover that the oft-quoted value of 99.5% discrimination is overly conservative, demonstrating that another order of magnitude improvement (99.95% discrimination) can be achieved with a high photon detection efficiency (g1 ~ 15-20%) at reasonably achievable drift fields of 200-350 V/cm.

Read this paper on arXiv…

M. Szydagis, J. Balajthy, G. Block, et. al.
Tue, 22 Nov 22
48/83

Comments: 24 Pages, 6 Tables, 15 Figures, and 15 Equations

Development of a trigger for acoustic neutrino candidates in KM3NeT [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2211.10149


The KM3NeT Collaboration is constructing two large neutrino detectors in the Mediterranean Sea: ARCA, located near Sicily and aiming at neutrino astronomy, and ORCA located near Toulon and designed for the study of intrinsic neutrino properties. The two detectors together will have hundreds of Detection Units with Digital Optical Modules kept vertically by buoyancy forming a large 3D optical array for detecting the Cherenkov light produced after the neutrino interactions. To properly reconstruct the direction of the incoming neutrino, the position of the DOMs, which are not static due to the sea currents, must be monitored. For this purpose, the detector is equipped with an Acoustic Positioning System, which is composed of fixed acoustic emitters on the sea bottom, a hydrophone in each DU base, and a piezoceramic sensor in each DOM, as acoustic receivers. This network of acoustic sensors can be used not only for positioning, but also for acoustic monitoring studies such as bioacoustics, ship noise monitoring, environmental noise control, and acoustic neutrinos detection. This work explores the possibility of creating a trigger for saving the data for ultra-high-energy neutrino candidates detected acoustically by the hydrophones. The acoustic signal caused by the neutrino interaction in a fluid is a short-time duration Bipolar Pulse extremely directive and with a Fourier transform extending over a wide range of frequencies. A study of signal detection, has been done by simulating BP produced by the interaction of a UHE neutrino at 1 km from the detector at zero-degree incidence added to the experimental real acoustic data. Finally, a trigger proposal has been developed in order to record candidates of BPs and it has been tested. The number of candidates per second, precision, and recall have been monitored according to the cuts applied and parameters calculated by the algorithm.

Read this paper on arXiv…

D. D.Tortosa, M. Ardid, M. Bou-Cabo, et. al.
Mon, 21 Nov 22
31/66

Comments: N/A

Design of The Kinetic Inductance Detector Based Focal Plane Assembly for The Terahertz Intensity Mapper [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2211.09351


We report on the kinetic inductance detector (KID) array focal plane assembly design for the Terahertz Intensity Mapper (TIM). Each of the 2 arrays consists of 4 wafer-sized dies (quadrants), and the overall assembly must satisfy thermal and mechanical requirements, while maintaining high optical efficiency and a suitable electromagnetic environment for the KIDs. In particular, our design manages to strictly maintain a 50 $\mathrm{\mu m}$ air gap between the array and the horn block. We have prototyped and are now testing a sub-scale assembly which houses a single quadrant for characterization before integration into the full array. The initial test result shows a $>$95\% yield, indicating a good performance of our TIM detector packaging design.

Read this paper on arXiv…

L. Liu, R. Janssen, C. Bradford, et. al.
Fri, 18 Nov 22
35/70

Comments: 8 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Journal of Low Temperature Physics

Design and testing of Kinetic Inductance Detector package for the Terahertz Intensity Mapper [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2211.09308


The Terahertz Intensity Mapper (TIM) is designed to probe the star formation history in dust-obscured star-forming galaxies around the peak of cosmic star formation. This will be done via measurements of the redshifted 157.7 um line of singly ionized carbon ([CII]). TIM employs two R $\sim 250$ long-slit grating spectrometers covering 240-420 um. Each is equipped with a focal plane unit containing 4 wafer-sized subarrays of horn-coupled aluminum kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs). We present the design and performance of a prototype focal plane assembly for one of TIM’s KID-based subarrays. Our design strictly maintain high optical efficiency and a suitable electromagnetic environment for the KIDs. The prototype detector housing in combination with the first flight-like quadrant are tested at 250 mK. Initial frequency scan shows that many resonances are affected by collisions and/or very shallow transmission dips as a result of a degraded internal quality factor (Q factor). This is attributed to the presence of an external magnetic field during cooldown. We report on a study of magnetic field dependence of the Q factor of our quadrant array. We implement a Helmholtz coil to vary the magnetic field at the detectors by (partially) nulling earth’s. Our investigation shows that the earth magnetic field can significantly affect our KIDs’ performance by degrading the Q factor by a factor of 2-5, well below those expected from the operational temperature or optical loading. We find that we can sufficiently recover our detectors’ quality factor by tuning the current in the coils to generate a field that matches earth’s magnetic field in magnitude to within a few uT. Therefore, it is necessary to employ a properly designed magnetic shield enclosing the TIM focal plane unit. Based on the results presented in this paper, we set a shielding requirement of |B| < 3 uT.

Read this paper on arXiv…

L. Liu, R. Janssen, C. Bradford, et. al.
Fri, 18 Nov 22
40/70

Comments: 8 pages, 5 figures, to be published in conference proceedings of SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 2022

Direct dark matter searches with the full data set of XMASS-I [CEA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2211.06204


Various WIMP dark matter searches using the full data set of XMASS-I, a single-phase liquid xenon detector, are reported in this paper. Stable XMASS-I data taking accumulated a total live time of 1590.9 days between November 20, 2013 and February 1, 2019 with an analysis threshold of ${\rm 1.0\,keV_{ee}}$. In the latter half of data taking a lower analysis threshold of ${\rm 0.5\,keV_{ee}}$ was also available through a new low threshold trigger. Searching for a WIMP signal in the detector’s 97~kg fiducial volume yielded a limit on the WIMP-nucleon scattering cross section of ${\rm 1.4\times 10^{-44}\, cm^{2}}$ for a ${\rm 60\,GeV/c^{2}}$ WIMP at the 90$\%$ confidence level. We also searched for WIMP induced annual modulation signatures in the detector’s whole target volume, containing 832~kg of liquid xenon. For nuclear recoils of a ${\rm 8\,GeV/c^{2}}$ WIMP this analysis yielded a 90\% CL cross section limit of ${\rm 2.3\times 10^{-42}\, cm^{2}}$. At a WIMP mass of ${\rm 0.5\, GeV/c^{2}}$ the Migdal effect and Bremsstrahlung signatures were evaluated and lead to 90\% CL cross section limits of ${\rm 1.4\times 10^{-35}\, cm^{2}}$ and ${\rm 1.1\times 10^{-33}\, cm^{2}}$ respectively.

Read this paper on arXiv…

X. Collaboration, K. Abe, K. Hiraide, et. al.
Mon, 14 Nov 22
29/69

Comments: N/A

A millimeter-wave hyper-spectral device based on Lumped Element Kinetic Inductance Detectors [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2211.04814


Millimetre-wave astronomy is an important tool for cosmology. In this context, the Line Intensity Mapping (LIM) technique has been proposed to map in three dimensions the specific intensity due to line (e.g. [CII], CO) emission. This mapping is particularly interesting to study the primordial galaxies as a function of redshift. LIM observations are typically carried out on single dish telescopes. Hyper-spectral integrated devices have the potential to replace the current Fourier transform, or the planned Fabry-Perot based instruments to achieve efficient, i.e. large field-of-view, line intensity mapping at millimetre and sub-millimetre wavelengths. The aim is to perform hyper-spectral mapping, with a spectral resolution 100-1000, over large, i.e. thousands of beams, instantaneous patches of the Sky. The device that we have developed allows avoiding moving parts, complicated or dispersive optics or tunable filters to be operated at cryogenics temperatures. We designed, fabricated and tested an innovative integrated hyperspectral device sensitive in the 80-90GHz range. It contains nineteen horns and sixteen spectral-imaging channels, each selecting a frequency band of about 0.1GHz. A conical horn antenna, coupled to a planar superconducting filter, collects the radiation. A capacitively coupled Lumped Element Kinetic Inductance Detector (LEKID) is then in charge of dissipating and sensing the super-current established in the filter. The prototype is fabricated with only two photo-lithography steps over a commercial mono-crystalline sapphire substrate. It exhibits a spectral resolution R=800. The optical noise equivalent power is in the observational relevant 1e-17 W per sqrt(Hz) range. The device is polarisation-sensitive, paving the way to spectro-polarimetry measurements over very large field-of-views.

Read this paper on arXiv…

U. Chowdhury, F. Levy-Bertrand, M. Calvo, et. al.
Thu, 10 Nov 22
54/78

Comments: Submitted to Astronomy and Astrophysics. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2209.02484

Sub-GeV Dark Matter Searches with EDELWEISS: New results and prospects [GA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2211.04176


The Edelweiss collaboration performs light Dark Matter (DM) particles searches with germanium bolometer collecting charge and phonon signals. Thanks to the Neganov-Trofimov-Luke (NTL) effect, a RMS resolution of 4.46 electron-hole pairs was obtained on a massive (200g) germanium detector instrumented with a NbSi Transition Edge Sensor (TES) operated underground at the Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane (LSM). This sensitivity made possible a search for WIMP using the Migdal effect down to 32 MeV/C$^{2}$ and exclude cross-sections down to 10$^{-29}$ cm$^2$. It is the first measurement in cryogenic germanium with such thermal sensor, proving the high relevance of this technology. Furthermore, such TES have shown sensitivity to out-of-equilibrium phonons, paving the way for EDELWEISS new experience CRYOSEL. This is an important step in the development of Ge detectors with improved performance in the context of the EDELWEISS-SubGeV program.

Read this paper on arXiv…

H. H.Lattaud
Wed, 9 Nov 22
19/76

Comments: 8 pages, 7 figures. Proceeding for IDM22. To be published on scipost

Towards an automated data cleaning with deep learning in CRESST [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2211.00564


The CRESST experiment employs cryogenic calorimeters for the sensitive measurement of nuclear recoils induced by dark matter particles. The recorded signals need to undergo a careful cleaning process to avoid wrongly reconstructed recoil energies caused by pile-up and read-out artefacts. We frame this process as a time series classification task and propose to automate it with neural networks. With a data set of over one million labeled records from 68 detectors, recorded between 2013 and 2019 by CRESST, we test the capability of four commonly used neural network architectures to learn the data cleaning task. Our best performing model achieves a balanced accuracy of 0.932 on our test set. We show on an exemplary detector that about half of the wrongly predicted events are in fact wrongly labeled events, and a large share of the remaining ones have a context-dependent ground truth. We furthermore evaluate the recall and selectivity of our classifiers with simulated data. The results confirm that the trained classifiers are well suited for the data cleaning task.

Read this paper on arXiv…

G. Angloher, S. Banik, D. Bartolot, et. al.
Wed, 2 Nov 22
40/67

Comments: 12 pages, 8 figures, 6 tables

An instrumented baffle for the Advanced Virgo Input Mode Cleaner End Mirror [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2210.16313


A novel instrumented baffle surrounding the suspended end mirror in the input mode cleaner cavity of the Virgo interferometer was installed in spring 2021. Since then, the device has been regularly operated in the experiment and the obtained results indicate a good agreement with simulations of the stray light inside the optical cavity. The baffle will operate in the upcoming O4 observation run, serving as a demonstrator of the technology designed to instrument the baffles in front of the main mirrors in time for O5. In this paper we present a detailed description of the baffle design, including mechanics, front-end electronics, data acquisition, as well as optical and vacuum tests, calibration and installation procedures, and performance results.

Read this paper on arXiv…

M. Andres-Carcasona, O. Ballester, O. Blanch, et. al.
Tue, 1 Nov 22
11/100

Comments: 12 pages, 21 figures, 3 tables, to be submitted to PRD

Advanced LIGO, LISA, and Cosmic Explorer as dark matter transducers [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2210.17487


We present a method to search for scalar field ultralight dark matter directly interacting with gravitational-wave interferometers via a modulation of the fine structure constant and the electron mass. This modulation induces an effective strain in solid materials at a frequency determined by the mass of the dark matter particle. We study the prospects for looking for such an effect in the LIGO detectors by using the solid cavity which is nominally used for pre-stabilizing the laser frequency and we project upper limits. We contextualize them with previous limits from GEO600, possible limits from a similar strain in the LIGO beamsplitter, and with potential limits from upcoming experiments like LISA, Cosmic Explorer and from an upgraded solid cavity. We find that with the sensitivity of Advanced LIGO, competitive upper limits on DM coupling can be placed at the level of $\left\vert d_{m_e}+d_e\right\vert \sim 0.2$ for $m_\text{DM} \sim 10^{-13}\,\mathrm{eV}/\mathrm{c}^2$ with a combination of two searches using the solid cavity and the beamsplitter in LIGO; future experiments could reduce this upper limit to $\sim10^{-3}$.

Read this paper on arXiv…

E. Hall and N. Aggarwal
Tue, 1 Nov 22
36/100

Comments: 9 pages, 5 figures

Simulations of light distribution on new instrumented baffles surrounding Virgo end mirrors [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2210.16308


As part of the second phase of Advanced Virgo upgrade program, instrumented baffles are being constructed to be installed around the end mirrors in the main arms, in continuation of what has been implemented for the input mode cleaner end mirror during phase I. These baffles will be equipped with photosensors, allowing for real-time monitoring of the stray light around the mirrors. In this paper, we present optical simulations of the light distribution in the detector main cavities to assess the ability of the sensors to effectively monitor misalignment and defects on the mirrors surface and to play a role in the pre-alignment of the interferometer.

Read this paper on arXiv…

A. Macquet, M. M.Andrés-Carcasona, M. Martinez, et. al.
Tue, 1 Nov 22
77/100

Comments: N/A

Stokes inversion techniques with neural networks: analysis of uncertainty in parameter estimation [SSA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2210.14933


Magnetic fields are responsible for a multitude of Solar phenomena, including such destructive events as solar flares and coronal mass ejections, with the number of such events rising as we approach the peak of the 11-year solar cycle, in approximately 2025. High-precision spectropolarimetric observations are necessary to understand the variability of the Sun. The field of quantitative inference of magnetic field vectors and related solar atmospheric parameters from such observations has long been investigated. In recent years, very sophisticated codes for spectropolarimetric observations have been developed. Over the past two decades, neural networks have been shown to be a fast and accurate alternative to classic inversion technique methods. However, most of these codes can be used to obtain point estimates of the parameters, so ambiguities, the degeneracies, and the uncertainties of each parameter remain uncovered. In this paper, we provide end-to-end inversion codes based on the simple Milne-Eddington model of the stellar atmosphere and deep neural networks to both parameter estimation and their uncertainty intervals. The proposed framework is designed in such a way that it can be expanded and adapted to other atmospheric models or combinations of them. Additional information can also be incorporated directly into the model. It is demonstrated that the proposed architecture provides high accuracy of results, including a reliable uncertainty estimation, even in the multidimensional case. The models are tested using simulation and real data samples.

Read this paper on arXiv…

L. Mistryukova, A. Plotnikov, A. Khizhik, et. al.
Fri, 28 Oct 22
35/56

Comments: 17 pages with 7 figures and 3 tables, submitted to Solar Physics

Coating $μ$m TPB on a cylindrical detector and studying the sample films being cooled to LN and LHe temperatures [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2210.12735


ALETHEIA is a newly established dark matter direct detection project that aims at hunting for low-mass WIMPs. TPB is widely implemented in liquid helium and argon experiments to shift VUV photons to visible light. We first report that we have successfully coated $\sim 3 ~\mu$m TPB on the inner walls of a 10-cm cylindrical PTFE detector; we split the coating process into two steps to have all of the surfaces being coated with the same thickness; three independent methods were applied to figure out the thickness of the TPB coating layers, and consistent results were obtained. Second, with an SEM machine, we scanned the surface of TPB coating sample films exposed to different cryogenic temperatures. The first sample layer was immersed into a liquid nitrogen dewar for forty hours, the second sample was cooled to 4.5 K for three hours, and the third sample stayed at room temperature after coating. The SEM-scanned images of the sample films barely show any noticeable difference.

Read this paper on arXiv…

J. Zhou, Z. Ouyang, J. Liao, et. al.
Tue, 25 Oct 22
84/111

Comments: N/A

Vibration characteristics of a continuously rotating superconducting magnetic bearing and potential influence to TES and SQUID [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2210.13219


We measured the vibration of a prototype superconducting magnetic bearing (SMB) operating at liquid nitrogen temperature. This prototype system was designed as a breadboard model for LiteBIRD low-frequency telescope (LFT) polarization modulator unit. We set an upper limit of the vibration amplitude at $36~\mathrm{\mu m}$ at the rotational synchronous frequency. During the rotation, the amplitude of the magnetic field produced varies. From this setup, we compute the static and AC amplitude of the magnetic fields produced by the SMB magnet at the location of the LFT focal plane as $0.24~\mathrm{G}$ and $3\times10^{-5}$$~\mathrm{G}$, respectively. From the AC amplitude, we compute TES critical temperature variation of $7\times10^{-8}$$~\mathrm{K}$ and fractional change of the SQUID flux is $\delta \Phi/\Phi_0|_{ac}=3.1\times10^{-5}$. The mechanical vibration can be also estimated to be $3.6\times 10^{-2}$$~\mathrm{N}$ at the rotation mechanism location.

Read this paper on arXiv…

S. Sugiyama, T. Ghigna, Y. Hoshino, et. al.
Tue, 25 Oct 22
92/111

Comments: 7 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Journal of Low Temperature Physics

The DAMIC-M Experiment: Status and First Results [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2210.12070


The DAMIC-M (DArk Matter In CCDs at Modane) experiment employs thick, fully depleted silicon charged-coupled devices (CCDs) to search for dark matter particles with a target exposure of 1 kg-year. A novel skipper readout implemented in the CCDs provides single electron resolution through multiple non-destructive measurements of the individual pixel charge, pushing the detection threshold to the eV-scale. DAMIC-M will advance by several orders of magnitude the exploration of the dark matter particle hypothesis, in particular of candidates pertaining to the so-called “hidden sector.” A prototype, the Low Background Chamber (LBC), with 20g of low background Skipper CCDs, has been recently installed at Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane and is currently taking data. We will report the status of the DAMIC-M experiment and first results obtained with LBC commissioning data.

Read this paper on arXiv…

I. Arnquist, N. Avalos, P. Bailly, et. al.
Mon, 24 Oct 22
12/56

Comments: 8 pages, 6 figures, Submission to SciPost Physics Proceedings: 14th International Conference on Identification of Dark Matter (IDM) 2022

Estimation of the number of counts on a particle counter detector with full time resolution [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2210.09005


We present a general method for estimating the number of particles impinging on a segmented counter or, in general, on a counter with sub-units. We account for unresolved particles, i.e., the effect of two or more particles hitting the same sub-unit almost simultaneously. To achieve full time resolution we account for the dead time that occurs after the first time-bin of a particle signal. This general counting method can be applied to counting muons in existing detectors like the Underground Muon Detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory. We therefore use the latter as a study case to test the performance of our method and to compare it to other methods from literature. Our method proves to perform with little bias, and also provides an estimate of the number of particles as a function of time (as seen by the detector) to a single time-bin resolution. In this context, the new method can be useful for reconstructing parameters sensitive to cosmic ray mass, which are key to unveiling the origin of cosmic rays.

Read this paper on arXiv…

F. Gesualdi and A. Supanitsky
Tue, 18 Oct 22
45/99

Comments: Accepted for publication in EPJ C

Design and Testing of a 3U CubeSat to Test the In-situ Vetoing for the $ν$SOL Solar Neutrino Detector [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2210.07975


For years, earth-based neutrino detectors have been run and operated to detect the elusive neutrino. These have historically been enormous underground detectors. The neutrino Solar Orbiting Laboratory ($\nu$SOL) project is working to design a technical demonstration to show that a much smaller neutrino detector can be operated in near-solar environments for a future spaceflight mission. At a closest approach of 3 solar radii, there is a ten thousand-fold increase in the neutrino flux. This would allow a 100 kg payload to be the equivalent of a 1 kTon earth-based payload, larger than the first neutrino experiment in the Homestake mine. As a continuing step towards this goal, the $\nu$SOL project will fly a 3U CubeSat for testing the detector’s passive shielding design, active vetoing system in a space environment, and the rate of false double-pulse signals in a space environment. I go into technical detail about the characterization of the central detector in simuo and in the lab. The first test is a characterization of energy resolution and calibration through the use of radioactive sources. We will continue testing by measuring the veto success rate with ground-level cosmic rays. For the final ground testing, we will use the Fermilab test beam to characterize the central detector and veto performance at specific particle energies. Veto performance on the previous detector design has been promising, and we were able to veto a high percentage of all particles that can penetrate the passive shielding of the satellite. These laboratory results and simulations of the CubeSat detector design will raise the technological readiness level of the planned technological demonstrator flight to the sun, and the current level of shielding performance is promising for a successful CubeSat test flight.

Read this paper on arXiv…

J. Folkerts
Mon, 17 Oct 22
16/56

Comments: Manuscript presented at the International Astronautical Congress, IAC 2022, Paris, France, 18-22 September. Copyright by IAF

Improved Dark Matter Search Sensitivity Resulting from LUX Low-Energy Nuclear Recoil Calibration [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2210.05859


Dual-phase xenon time projection chamber (TPC) detectors have demonstrated superior search sensitivities to dark matter over a wide range of particle masses. To extend their sensitivity to include low-mass dark matter interactions, it is critical to characterize both the light and charge responses of liquid xenon to sub-keV nuclear recoils. In this work, we report a new nuclear recoil calibration in the LUX detector $\textit{in situ}$ using neutron events from a pulsed Adelphi Deuterium-Deuterium neutron generator. We demonstrate direct measurements of light and charge yields down to 0.45 keV (1.4 scintillation photons) and 0.27 keV (1.3 ionization electrons), respectively, approaching the physical limit of liquid xenon detectors. We discuss the implication of these new measurements on the physics reach of dual-phase xenon TPCs for nuclear-recoil-based low-mass dark matter detection.

Read this paper on arXiv…

L. Collaboration
Thu, 13 Oct 22
32/68

Comments: N/A

Single Event Tolerance of X-ray SOI Pixel Sensors [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2210.05049


We evaluate the single event tolerance of the X-ray silicon-on-insulator (SOI) pixel sensor named XRPIX, developed for the future X-ray astronomical satellite FORCE. In this work, we measure the cross-section of single event upset (SEU) of the shift register on XRPIX by irradiating heavy ion beams with linear energy transfer (LET) ranging from 0.022 MeV/(mg/cm2) to 68 MeV/(mg/cm2). From the SEU cross-section curve, the saturation cross-section and threshold LET are successfully obtained to be $3.4^{+2.9}{-0.9}\times 10^{-10}~{\rm cm^2/bit}$ and $7.3^{+1.9}{-3.5}~{\rm MeV/(mg/cm^2)}$, respectively. Using these values, the SEU rate in orbit is estimated to be $\lesssim$ 0.1 event/year primarily due to the secondary particles induced by cosmic-ray protons. This SEU rate of the shift register on XRPIX is negligible in the FORCE orbit.

Read this paper on arXiv…

K. Hagino, M. Hayashida, T. Kohmura, et. al.
Wed, 12 Oct 22
43/75

Comments: 9 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in JATIS

Measuring the Migdal Effect in Semiconductors [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2210.04917


The Migdal effect has received much attention from the dark matter direct detection community, in particular due to its power in setting limits on sub-GeV particle dark matter. Currently, there is no experimental confirmation of the Migdal effect through nuclear scattering using Standard Model probes. In this work, we extend existing calculations of the Migdal effect to the case of neutron-nucleus scattering, with a particular focus on neutron scattering angle distributions in silicon. We identify kinematic regimes wherein the assumptions present in current calculations of the Migdal effect hold for neutron scattering, and demonstrate that these include many viable neutron calibration schemes. We then apply this framework to propose an experimental strategy to measure the Migdal effect in cryogenic silicon detectors using the NEXUS facility at Fermilab.

Read this paper on arXiv…

D. Adams, D. Baxter, H. Day, et. al.
Wed, 12 Oct 22
45/75

Comments: 17 pages, 5 figures

The full coverage approach to the detection of Extensive Air Showers [HEAP]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2210.04832


A shower array exploiting the full coverage approach with a high segmentation of the readout allow to image the front of atmospheric showers with unprecedented resolution and detail. The grid distance determines the energy threshold (small energy showers are lost in the gap between detectors) and the quality of the shower sampling. Therefore, this experimental solution is needed to detect showers with a threshold in the 100 GeV range. The full coverage approach has been exploited in the ARGO-YBJ experiment. In this contribution we will summarise the advantages of this technique and discuss possible applications in new wide field of view detectors.

Read this paper on arXiv…

G. Sciascio and I. Vergata
Tue, 11 Oct 22
40/92

Comments: Invited Talk to 21st International Symposium on Very High Energy Cosmic Ray Interactions (ISVHECRI 2022

A Method to Achieve High Dynamic Range in a CMOS Image Sensor Using Interleaved Row Readout [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2210.04824


We present a readout scheme for CMOS image sensors that can be used to achieve arbitrarily high dynamic range (HDR) in principle. The linear full well capacity (LFWC) in high signal regions was extended 50 times from 20 ke$^{-}$ to 984 ke$^{-}$ via an interlaced row-wise readout order, whilst the noise floor remained unchanged in low signal regions, resulting in a 34 dB increase in DR. The peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) is increased in a continuous fashion from 43 dB to 60 dB. This was achieved by summing user-selected rows which were read out multiple times. Centroiding uncertainties were lowered when template-fitting a projected pattern, compared to the standard readout scheme. Example applications are aimed at scientific imaging due to the linearity and PSNR increase.

Read this paper on arXiv…

T. Wocial, K. Stefanov, W. Martin, et. al.
Tue, 11 Oct 22
60/92

Comments: 14 pages, 10 figures. Accepted to IEEE Sensors on 14/09/2022, available as a preprint as of 10/10/2022

Development of the ComPair gamma-ray telescope prototype [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2210.02962


There is a growing interest in the science uniquely enabled by observations in the MeV range, particularly in light of multi-messenger astrophysics. The Compton Pair (ComPair) telescope, a prototype of the AMEGO Probe-class concept, consists of four subsystems that together detect and characterize gamma rays in the MeV regime. A double-sided strip silicon Tracker gives a precise measure of the first Compton scatter interaction and tracks pair-conversion products. A novel cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) detector with excellent position and energy resolution beneath the Tracker detects the Compton-scattered photons. A thick cesium iodide (CsI) calorimeter contains the high-energy Compton and pair events. The instrument is surrounded by a plastic anti-coincidence (ACD) detector to veto the cosmic-ray background. In this work, we will give an overview of the science motivation and a description of the prototype development and performance.

Read this paper on arXiv…

D. Shy, C. Kierans, N. Cannady, et. al.
Fri, 7 Oct 22
48/62

Comments: N/A

Flattening laser frequency comb spectra with a high dynamic range, broadband spectral shaper on-a-chip [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2210.01264


Spectral shaping is critical to many fields of science. In astronomy for example, the detection of exoplanets via the Doppler effect hinges on the ability to calibrate a high resolution spectrograph. Laser frequency combs can be used for this, but the wildly varying intensity across the spectrum can make it impossible to optimally utilize the entire comb, leading to a reduced overall precision of calibration. To circumvent this, astronomical applications of laser frequency combs rely on a bulk optic setup which can flatten the output spectrum before sending it to the spectrograph. Such flatteners require complex and expensive optical elements like spatial light modulators and have non-negligible bench top footprints. Here we present an alternative in the form of an all-photonic spectral shaper that can be used to flatten the spectrum of a laser frequency comb. The device consists of a circuit etched into a silicon nitride wafer that supports an arrayed-waveguide grating to disperse the light over hundreds of nanometers in wavelength, followed by Mach-Zehnder interferometers to control the amplitude of each channel, thermo-optic phase modulators to phase the channels and a second arrayed-waveguide grating to recombine the spectrum. The demonstrator device operates from 1400 to 1800 nm (covering the astronomical H band), with twenty 20 nm wide channels. The device allows for nearly 40 dBs of dynamic modulation of the spectrum via the Mach-Zehnders , which is greater than that offered by most spatial light modulators. With a superluminescent diode, we reduced the static spectral variation to ~3 dB, limited by the properties of the components used in the circuit and on a laser frequency comb we managed to reduce the modulation to 5 dBs, sufficient for astronomical applications.

Read this paper on arXiv…

N. Jovanovic, P. Gatkine, B. Shen, et. al.
Wed, 5 Oct 22
43/73

Comments: 15 pages, 10 figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2209.09455

ALPHA: Searching For Dark Matter with Plasma Haloscopes [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2210.00017


We summarise the recent progress of the Axion Longitudinal Plasma HAloscope (ALPHA) Consortium, a new experimental collaboration to build a plasma haloscope to search for axions and dark photons. The plasma haloscope is a novel method for the detection of the resonant conversion of light dark matter to photons. ALPHA will be sensitive to QCD axions over almost a decade of parameter space, potentially discovering dark matter and resolving the Strong CP problem. Unlike traditional cavity haloscopes, which are generally limited in volume by the Compton wavelength of the dark matter, plasma haloscopes use a wire metamaterial to create a tuneable artificial plasma frequency, decoupling the wavelength of light from the Compton wavelength and allowing for much stronger signals. We develop the theoretical foundations of plasma haloscopes and discuss recent experimental progress. Finally, we outline a baseline design for ALPHA and show that a full-scale experiment could discover QCD axions over almost a decade of parameter space.

Read this paper on arXiv…

A. Millar, S. Anlage, R. Balafendiev, et. al.
Tue, 4 Oct 22
27/71

Comments: Endorsers: Jens Dilling, Michael Febbraro, Stefan Knirck, and Claire Marvinney. 26 pages, 17 figures

The low-energy spectrum in DAMIC at SNOLAB [CEA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2210.00587


The DAMIC experiment employs large-area, thick charge-coupled devices (CCDs) to search for the interactions of low-mass dark matter particles in the galactic halo with silicon atoms in the CCD target. From 2017 to 2019, DAMIC collected data with a seven-CCD array (40-gram target) installed in the SNOLAB underground laboratory. We report dark-matter search results, including a conspicuous excess of events above the background model below 200 eV$_{\rm ee}$, whose origin remains unknown. We present details of the published spectral analysis, and update on the deployment of skipper CCDs to perform a more precise measurement by early 2023.

Read this paper on arXiv…

A. Chavarria
Tue, 4 Oct 22
50/71

Comments: Proceedings for the 14th International Conference on Identification of Dark Matter, Submission to SciPost

GENESIS: Co-location of Geodetic Techniques in Space [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2209.15298


Improving and homogenizing time and space reference systems on Earth and, more directly, realizing the Terrestrial Reference Frame (TRF) with an accuracy of 1mm and a long-term stability of 0.1mm/year are relevant for many scientific and societal endeavors. The knowledge of the TRF is fundamental for Earth and navigation sciences. For instance, quantifying sea level change strongly depends on an accurate determination of the geocenter motion but also of the positions of continental and island reference stations, as well as the ground stations of tracking networks. Also, numerous applications in geophysics require absolute millimeter precision from the reference frame, as for example monitoring tectonic motion or crustal deformation for predicting natural hazards. The TRF accuracy to be achieved represents the consensus of various authorities which has enunciated geodesy requirements for Earth sciences.
Today we are still far from these ambitious accuracy and stability goals for the realization of the TRF. However, a combination and co-location of all four space geodetic techniques on one satellite platform can significantly contribute to achieving these goals. This is the purpose of the GENESIS mission, proposed as a component of the FutureNAV program of the European Space Agency. The GENESIS platform will be a dynamic space geodetic observatory carrying all the geodetic instruments referenced to one another through carefully calibrated space ties. The co-location of the techniques in space will solve the inconsistencies and biases between the different geodetic techniques in order to reach the TRF accuracy and stability goals endorsed by the various international authorities and the scientific community. The purpose of this white paper is to review the state-of-the-art and explain the benefits of the GENESIS mission in Earth sciences, navigation sciences and metrology.

Read this paper on arXiv…

P. Delva, Z. Altamimi, A. Blazquez, et. al.
Mon, 3 Oct 22
38/55

Comments: 31 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Earth, Planets and Space (EPS)

X-ray performance of a customized large-format scientifc CMOS detector [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2209.15295


In recent years, the performance of Scientifc Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (sCMOS) sensors has been improved signifcantly. Compared with CCD sensors, sCMOS sensors have various advantages, making them potentially better devices for optical and X-ray detection, especially in time-domain astronomy. After a series of tests of sCMOS sensors, we proposed a new dedicated high-speed, large-format X-ray detector in 2016 cooperating with Gpixel Inc. This new sCMOS sensor has a physical size of 6 cm by 6 cm, with an array of 4096 by 4096 pixels and a pixel size of 15 um. The frame rate is 20.1 fps under current condition and can be boosted to a maximum value around 100 fps. The epitaxial thickness is increased to 10 um compared to the previous sCMOS product. We show the results of its frst taped-out product in this work. The dark current of this sCMOS is lower than 10 e/pixel/s at 20C, and lower than 0.02 e/pixel/s at -30C. The Fixed Pattern Noise (FPN) and the readout noise are lower than 5 e in high-gain situation and show a small increase at low temperature. The energy resolution reaches 180.1 eV (3.1%) at 5.90 keV for single-pixel events and 212.3 eV (3.6%) for all split events. The continuous X-ray spectrum measurement shows that this sensor is able to response to X-ray photons from 500 eV to 37 keV. The excellent performance, as demonstrated from these test results, makes sCMOS sensor an ideal detector for X-ray imaging and spectroscopic application.

Read this paper on arXiv…

Q. Wu, Z. Jia, W. Wang, et. al.
Mon, 3 Oct 22
43/55

Comments: 20 pages. published in PASP

Letter of Interest: Ocean science with the Pacific Ocean Neutrino Experiment [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2209.14710


The Pacific Ocean Neutrino Experiment (P-ONE) is a proposed cubic-kilometer scale neutrino telescope planned to be installed in the deep-sea of the north-east Pacific Ocean. In collaboration with the optical deep-sea data and communications network operated by Ocean Networks Canada, an international collaboration of researchers plans to install an array of kilometer-long mooring lines in a depth of around 2660 m to the relatively flat deep-sea region called Cascadia Basin, around 300 miles West of Vancouver Island. With the design and development ongoing, the P-ONE collaboration is interested to initiate participation of fellow scientists of the oceanographic and marine science communities to provide expertise and experience towards deploying additional or inclusive instrumentation and measurement strategies for doing oceanographic research. In addition to the monitoring of optical bioluminescence and deep-ocean dynamics and thermodynamics, active and passive acoustics can be installed within the P-ONE array. This letter summarizes the P-ONE detector and a non-exhaustive list of potential topics of interest for oceanographic and marine research.

Read this paper on arXiv…

F. Henningsen and L. Schumacher
Fri, 30 Sep 22
5/71

Comments: N/A

Improving ANAIS-112 sensitivity to DAMA/LIBRA signal with machine learning techniques [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2209.14113


The DAMA/LIBRA observation of an annual modulation in the detection rate compatible with that expected for dark matter particles from the galactic halo has accumulated evidence for more than twenty years. It is the only hint of a direct detection of the elusive dark matter, but it is in strong tension with the negative results of other very sensitive experiments, requiring ad-hoc scenarios to reconcile all the present experimental results. Testing the DAMA/LIBRA result using the same target material, NaI(Tl), removes the dependence on the particle and halo models and is the goal of the ANAIS-112 experiment, taking data at the Canfranc Underground Laboratory in Spain since August 2017 with 112.5 kg of NaI(Tl). At very low energies, the detection rate is dominated by non-bulk scintillation events and careful event selection is mandatory. This article summarizes the efforts devoted to better characterize and filter this contribution in ANAIS-112 data using a boosted decision tree (BDT), trained for this goal with high efficiency. We report on the selection of the training populations, the procedure to determine the optimal cut on the BDT parameter, the estimate of the efficiencies for the selection of bulk scintillation in the region of interest (ROI), and the evaluation of the performance of this analysis with respect to the previous filtering. The improvement achieved in background rejection in the ROI, but moreover, the increase in detection efficiency, push the ANAIS-112 sensitivity to test the DAMA/LIBRA annual modulation result beyond 3$\sigma$ with three-year exposure, being possible to reach 5$\sigma$ by extending the data taking for a few more years than the scheduled 5 years which were due in August 2022.

Read this paper on arXiv…

I. Coarasa, J. Apilluelo, J. Amaré, et. al.
Thu, 29 Sep 22
30/70

Comments: N/A

DVGAN: Stabilize Wasserstein GAN training for time-domain Gravitational Wave physics [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2209.13592


Simulating time-domain observations of gravitational wave (GW) detector environments will allow for a better understanding of GW sources, augment datasets for GW signal detection and help in characterizing the noise of the detectors, leading to better physics. This paper presents a novel approach to simulating fixed-length time-domain signals using a three-player Wasserstein Generative Adversarial Network (WGAN), called DVGAN, that includes an auxiliary discriminator that discriminates on the derivatives of input signals. An ablation study is used to compare the effects of including adversarial feedback from an auxiliary derivative discriminator with a vanilla two-player WGAN. We show that discriminating on derivatives can stabilize the learning of GAN components on 1D continuous signals during their training phase. This results in smoother generated signals that are less distinguishable from real samples and better capture the distributions of the training data. DVGAN is also used to simulate real transient noise events captured in the advanced LIGO GW detector.

Read this paper on arXiv…

T. Dooney, S. Bromuri and L. Curier
Thu, 29 Sep 22
45/70

Comments: 10 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables

Revisiting Thermal Charge Carrier Refractive Noise in Semiconductor Optics for Gravitational-Wave Interferometers [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2209.09994


The test masses in next-generation gravitational-wave interferometers may have a semiconductor substrate, most likely silicon. The stochastic motion of charge carriers within the semiconductor will cause random fluctuations in the material’s index of refraction, introducing a noise source called Thermal Charge Carrier Refractive (TCCR) noise. TCCR noise was previously studied in 2020 by Bruns et al., using a Langevin force approach. Here we compute the power spectral density of TCCR noise by both using the Fluctuation-Dissipation theorem (FDT) and accounting for previously neglected effects of the standing wave of laser light which is produced inside the input test mass by its high-reflecting coatings. We quantify our results with parameters from Einstein Telescope, and show that at temperatures of 10 K the amplitude of TCCR noise is up to a factor of $\sqrt{2}$ times greater than what was previously claimed, and from 77 K to 300 K the amplitude is around 5 to 7 orders of magnitude lower than previously claimed when we choose to neglect the standing wave, and is up to a factor of 6 times lower if the standing wave is included. Despite these differences, we still conclude like Bruns et al. that TCCR noise should not be a limiting noise source for next-generation gravitational-wave interferometers.

Read this paper on arXiv…

H. Siegel and Y. Levin
Thu, 22 Sep 22
54/65

Comments: 7 pages, 1 figure

An all-photonic, dynamic device for flattening the spectrum of a laser frequency comb for precise calibration of radial velocity measurements [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2209.09455


Laser frequency combs are fast becoming critical to reaching the highest radial velocity precisions. One shortcoming is the highly variable brightness of the comb lines across the spectrum (up to 4-5 orders of magnitude). This can result in some lines saturating while others are at low signal and lost in the noise. Losing lines to either of these effects reduces the precision and hence effectiveness of the comb. In addition, the brightness of the comb lines can vary with time which could drive comb lines with initially reasonable SNR’s into the two regimes described above. To mitigate these two effects, laser frequency combs use optical flattener’s.
Flattener’s are typically bulk optic setups that disperse the comb light with a grating, and then use a spatial light modulator to control the amplitude across the spectrum before recombining the light into another single mode fiber and sending it to the spectrograph. These setups can be large (small bench top), expensive (several hundred thousand dollars) and have limited stability. To address these issues, we have developed an all-photonic spectrum flattener on a chip. The device is constructed from optical waveguides on a SiN chip. The light from the laser frequency comb’s output optical fiber can be directly connected to the chip, where the light is first dispersed using an arrayed waveguide grating. To control the brightness of each channel, the light is passed through a Mach-Zehnder interferometer before being recombined with a second arrayed waveguide grating. Thermo-optic phase modulators are used in each channel before recombination to path length match the channels as needed.
Here we present the results from our first generation prototype. The device operates from 1400-1800 nm (covering the H band), with 20, 20 nm wide channels.

Read this paper on arXiv…

N. Jovanovic, P. Gatkine, B. Shen, et. al.
Wed, 21 Sep 22
23/68

Comments: 7 pages, 5 figures, conference

Neutron Tagging following Atmospheric Neutrino Events in a Water Cherenkov Detector [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2209.08609


We present the development of neutron-tagging techniques in Super-Kamiokande IV using a neural network analysis. The detection efficiency of neutron capture on hydrogen is estimated to be 26%, with a mis-tag rate of 0.016 per neutrino event. The uncertainty of the tagging efficiency is estimated to be 9.0%. Measurement of the tagging efficiency with data from an Americium-Beryllium calibration agrees with this value within 10%. The tagging procedure was performed on 3,244.4 days of SK-IV atmospheric neutrino data, identifying 18,091 neutrons in 26,473 neutrino events. The fitted neutron capture lifetime was measured as 218 \pm 9 \mu s.

Read this paper on arXiv…

K. Abe, Y. Haga, Y. Hayato, et. al.
Tue, 20 Sep 22
5/81

Comments: N/A

The vacuum and cryogenics system of the SOXS spectrograph [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2209.07208


SOXS (Son Of X-Shooter) is a single object spectrograph built by an international consortium for the ESO NTT telescope. SOXS is based on the heritage of the X-Shooter at the ESO-VLT with two arms (UV-VIS and NIR) working in parallel, with a Resolution-Slit product of about 4500, capable of simultaneously observing over the entire band the complete spectral range from the U- to the H-band. SOXS will carry out rapid and long-term Target of Opportunity requests on a variety of astronomical objects. The SOXS vacuum and cryogenic control system has been designed to evacuate, cool down and maintain the UV-VIS detector and the entire NIR spectrograph to their operating temperatures. The design chosen allows the two arms to be operated independently. This paper describes the final design of the cryo-vacuum control system, its functionalities and the tests performed in the integration laboratories.

Read this paper on arXiv…

S. Scuderi, G. Bellassai, R. Benedetto, et. al.
Fri, 16 Sep 22
83/84

Comments: 12 pages, 6 figures, SPIE proceedings of the conference Advances in Optical and Mechanical Technologies for Telescopes and Instrumentation IV

Suitability of magnetic microbolometers based on paramagnetic temperature sensors for CMB polarization measurements [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2209.06088


High resolution polarization maps of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) are on high demand, since the discovery of primordial B-Modes in the polarization patterns would confirm the inflationary phase of the Universe that would have taken place before the emission of the CMB. Transition Edge Sensors (TES) and Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKID) are the predominant detector technologies of cryogenic detector array based CMB instruments that search for primordial B-Modes. In this paper we propose another type of cryogenic detector to be used for CMB survey: A magnetic microbolometer (MMB) that is based on a paramagnetic temperature sensor. It is an adaption of state-of-the-art metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMCs) that are meanwhile a key technology for high resolution $\alpha$, $\beta$, $\gamma$ and X-ray spectroscopy as well as the study of neutrino mass. A complete simulation framework was developed that accounts for the electrical and thermal properties of the bolometer and that can be used to obtain its responsivity and bandwidth, as well as estimating noise. A brief proof of concept case study is analyzed, taking into account typical constraints in CMB measurements and reliable microfabrication processes, to assess the suitability of metallic magnetic sensors in CMB experiments. The results show that MMBs provide a promising technology for CMB polarization measurements as their sensitivity can be tuned for background limited detection of the sky while simultaneously maintaining a low time response to avoid degradation of the point-source response of the telescope. As the sensor technology and its fabrication techniques are compatible with TES based bolometric detector arrays, a change of detector technology would even come with very low cost.

Read this paper on arXiv…

J. Geria, M. Hampel, S. Kempf, et. al.
Wed, 14 Sep 22
45/90

Comments: 18 pages, 14 figures. Paper submitted for review for the Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments and Systems (JATIS-SPIE)

The CERN n TOF NEAR station for astrophysics- and application-related neutron activation measurements [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2209.04443


A new experimental area, the NEAR station, has recently been built at the CERN n TOF facility, at a short distance from the spallation target (1.5 m). The new area, characterized by a neutron beam of very high flux, has been designed with the purpose of performing activation measurements of interest for astrophysics and various applications. The beam is transported from the spallation target to the NEAR station through a hole in the shielding wall of the target, inside which a collimator is inserted. The new area is complemented with a {\gamma}-ray spectroscopy laboratory, the GEAR station, equipped with a high efficiency HPGe detector, for the measurement of the activity resulting from irradiation of a sample in the NEAR station. The use of a moderator/filter assembly is envisaged, in order to produce a neutron beam of Maxwellian shape at different thermal energies, necessary for the measurement of Maxwellian Averaged Cross Sections of astrophysical interest. A new fast-cycling activation technique is also being investigated, for measurements of reactions leading to isotopes of very short half life.

Read this paper on arXiv…

N. Patronis, A. Mengoni, N. Colonna, et. al.
Tue, 13 Sep 22
39/85

Comments: N/A

A characterization method for low-frequency environmental noise in LIGO [IMA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2209.04452


We present a method to characterize the noise in ground-based gravitational-wave observatories such as the Laser Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). This method uses linear regression algorithms such as the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) to identify noise sources and analyzes the detector output versus noise witness sensors to quantify the coupling of such noise. Our method can be implemented with currently available resources at LIGO, which avoids extra coding or direct experimentation at the LIGO sites. We present two examples to validate and estimate the coupling of elevated ground motion at frequencies below 10 Hz with noise in the detector output.

Read this paper on arXiv…

G. Valdes, A. Hines, A. Nelson, et. al.
Tue, 13 Sep 22
61/85

Comments: N/A

Micro-Pattern Gaseous Detectors [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2209.05202


This is a summary of White Papers on micro-pattern gaseous detectors, submitted to Instrumentation Frontier Group ‘IF5’, as part of the Snowmass 2021 decadal survey of particle physics.

Read this paper on arXiv…

B. Surrow, M. Titov, S. Vahsen, et. al.
Tue, 13 Sep 22
70/85

Comments: contribution to Snowmass 2021