Physics

CAPP-8TB is an axion dark matter search experiment dedicated to an axion mass search near 6.7 μ eV. The experiment uses a microwave resonant cavity under a strong magnetic field of 8 T produced by a superconducting solenoid magnet in a dilution refrigerator. We describe the experimental configuration used to search for a mass range of 6.62 to 6.82 μ eV in the first phase of the experiment. We also discuss the next phase of the experiment and its prospects.

We present the results after 2.5 years in or-bit of Total Ionizing Dose (TID) measurements done using Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS) dosimeters on the MeMOSat board. The MeMOSat board was launched on July 19th 2014 at the BugSat-1 "Tita" microsatellite developed by Satellogic to stay at LEO. We used as dosimeters p-channel Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) MOS transistors with gate oxides of 250~nm. Before launch, a subset of transistors with similar drain current to voltage (I-V)curves where selected from a group of 100 devices. The temperature dependence of the (I-V) curves was studied to find the minimum temperature coefficient biasing point. Then, a calibration subgroup of sensors was irradiated using a 60 Co gamma source to study their response to TID, showing responsivities of ∼ 75~mV/krad when the sensors are irradiated without gate bias. Also, the post irradiation response of the sensors was monitored, in order to include a correction for low dose rate irradiations, yielding 30~mV/krad. A biasing and reading circuit was developed in order to allow the reading of up to 4 sensors.The threshold voltage was monitored during different periods of the mission. After 2.5 years in orbit,the threshold voltage of the sensor mounted on the MeMOSat Board had a V T shift of approximately 35~mV corresponds to a dose of 1.2~krads.

The Compact Spectrometer for Heavy Ion Experiment (CSHINE) is under construction for the study of isospin chronology via the Hanbury Brown ??Twiss (HBT) particle correlation function and the nuclear equation of state of asymmetrical nuclear matter. The CSHINE consists of silicon strip detector (SSD) telescopes and large-area parallel plate avalanche counters, which measure the light charged particles and fission fragments, respectively. In phase I, two SSD telescopes were used to observe 30 MeV/u 40 Ar + 197 Au reactions. The results presented here demonstrate that hydrogen and helium were observed with high isotopic resolution, and the HBT correlation functions of light charged particles could be constructed from the obtained data.

The CYGNO project has the goal to use a gaseous TPC with optical readout to detect dark matter and solar neutrinos with low energy threshold and directionality. The CYGNO demonstrator will consist of 1 m 3 volume filled with He:CF 4 gas mixture at atmospheric pressure. Optical readout with high granularity CMOS sensors, combined with fast light detectors, will provide a detailed reconstruction of the event topology. This will allow to discriminate the nuclear recoil signal from the background, mainly represented by low energy electron recoils induced by radioactivity. Thanks to the high reconstruction efficiency, CYGNO will be sensitive to low mass dark matter, and will have the potential to overcome the neutrino floor, that ultimately limits non-directional dark matter searches.

Now that conventional weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter searches are approaching the neutrino floor, there has been a resurgence of interest in detectors with sensitivity to nuclear recoil directions. A large-scale directional detector is attractive in that it would have sensitivity below the neutrino floor, be capable of unambiguously establishing the galactic origin of a purported dark matter signal, and could serve a dual purpose as a neutrino observatory. We present the first detailed analysis of a 1000 m 3 -scale detector capable of measuring a directional nuclear recoil signal at low energies. We propose a modular and multi-site observatory consisting of time projection chambers (TPCs) filled with helium and SF 6 at atmospheric pressure. Depending on the TPC readout technology, 10-20 helium recoils above 6 keVr or only 3-4 recoils above 20 keVr would suffice to distinguish a 10 GeV WIMP signal from the solar neutrino background. High-resolution charge readout also enables powerful electron background rejection capabilities well below 10 keV. We detail background and site requirements at the 1000 m 3 -scale, and identify materials that require improved radiopurity. The final experiment, which we name CYGNUS-1000, will be able to observe 10-40 neutrinos from the Sun, depending on the final energy threshold. With the same exposure, the sensitivity to spin independent cross sections will extend into presently unexplored sub-10 GeV parameter space. For spin dependent interactions, already a 10 m 3 -scale experiment could compete with upcoming generation-two detectors, but CYGNUS-1000 would improve upon this considerably. Larger volumes would bring sensitivity to neutrinos from an even wider range of sources, including galactic supernovae, nuclear reactors, and geological processes.

A single-contact voltage sensor designed for accurate measurements of ac voltages across a pair of conductors is described. The sensor design is motivated by remote monitoring applications where accurate voltage measurement of high-voltage transmission lines is required. The body of the sensor is electrically and mechanically attached to a single conductor: either the neutral or high-voltage conductor. A capacitive sensing plate attached to the sensor creates a capacitive voltage divider using the stray capacitance to the non-contacted line. A very high-impedance buffer is used to measure the voltage across the divider output and estimate the line voltage. An important part of the work includes a method of calibrating the sensor such that blind voltage measurements can be made without knowing the exact geometry of the conductors. Other important aspects of the design include a two-stage voltage divider for retaining accuracy and increasing the voltage range of the sensor. The work is supported by extensive numerical simulation models which were used to determine the optimum design for the sensing plate and to evaluate the sensitivity to different configurations including conductor spacing and the height above ground. For calibration values which are accurate to 1%, the line voltage can be measured with an accuracy of 10%. The paper describes the theory, design, and experimental verification of the sensor up to a line voltage of 7.5 kVrms.

The calibration and performance of the LHCb Calorimeter system in Run 1 and 2 at the LHC are described. After a brief description of the sub-detectors and of their role in the trigger, the calibration methods used for each part of the system are reviewed. The changes which occurred with the increase of beam energy in Run 2 are explained. The performances of the calorimetry for γ and π 0 are detailed. A few results from collisions recorded at s √ = 7, 8 and 13 TeV are shown.

A flexible apparatus for calibration of the absolute flux at the focal plane of the X-ray Source of a Powder Diffractometer, based on a fast scintillator counter, is presented. The measured fluxes, depending on the high voltage on the X-ray tube, were at the range 200 - 400 MHz, while an uncertainty in the flux of the order of 5% has been estimated. We also applied this calibration for radiation hardness study of a multichannel silicon microstrip X-Ray detector.

We present a 27-days long common view measurement of an absolute cold atom gravimeter (CAG) and a relative iGrav superconducting gravimeter, which we use to calibrate the iGrav scale factor. This allowed us to push the CAG long-term stability down to the level of 0.5~nm.s −2 . We investigate the impact of the duration of the measurement on the uncertainty in the determination of the correlation factor and show that it is limited to about 3\textperthousand~by the coloured noise of our cold atom gravimeter. A 3-days long measurement session with an additional FG5X absolute gravimeter allows us to directly compare the calibration results obtained with two different absolute meters. Based on our analysis, we expect that with an improvement of its long term stability, the CAG will allow to calibrate the iGrav scale factor to better than the per mille level (1 σ level of confidence) after only one-day of concurrent measurements for maximum tidal amplitudes.

Artificially-grown diamond crystals have unique properties that make them suitable as solid-state particle detectors and dosimeters in high-radiation environments. We have been using sensors based on single-crystal diamond grown by chemical vapour deposition for dosimetry and beam-loss monitoring at the SuperKEKB collider. Here we describe the assembly and the suite of test and calibration procedures adopted to characterise the diamond-based detectors of this monitoring system. We report the results obtained on 28 detectors and assess the stability and uniformity of response of these devices.