Berlin 2012 – scientific programme

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TT: Fachverband Tiefe Temperaturen

TT 36: Superconductivity: Cryodetectors

TT 36.8: Talk

Thursday, March 29, 2012, 11:30–11:45, H 2053

Neutron Scattering Facility for the Measurement of Light Quenching Factors of Low-Temperature Dark Matter Detectors — •Christian Ciemniak¹, Franz von Feilitzsch¹, Josef Jochum², Jean-Côme Lanfranchi¹, Walter Potzel¹, Raimund Strauß¹, and Stephan Wawoczny¹ — ¹Technische Universität München — ²Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen

Most direct dark matter search experiments aim at the detection of WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles). To cover a large mass range, scintillating multi-material single crystals (e.g. CaWO₄, NaI, TeO₂) are of special interest. Operated as low-temperature detectors, each particle interaction produces a scintillation light and a phonon signal simultaneously in these crystals. Since the ratio of the two quantities depends on the type of particle interaction, it is possible to discriminate the electron and different types of nuclear recoils. The signal region for each type of interaction is quantified by the quenching factor (QF). At the Maier-Leibnitz Laboratorium in Garching, a dedicated neutron scattering facility has been set up to characterize scintillating multi-material target crystals and measure the bulk QFs of the different nuclei. A detector operated at mK temperatures is irradiated by mono-energetic neutrons (≈ 11MeV). Both the phonon and the scintillation light signals are read out. The neutron’s time of flight measurement at fixed scattering angle allows to identify the recoiling nucleus and to determine its QF.