Speaker
Description
The DAREDEVIL (DARk-mattEr-DEVIces-for-Low-energy-detection) project aims to develop a new generation of detectors to search for dark matter candidates with masses below 1 GeV/c². The detection strategy relies on dark matter–electron scattering, where the excitation energy of electrons must match the momentum transferred in the interaction. Therefore, materials with very small energy gaps (of the order of eV or below) are particularly suitable. Promising candidates include special semiconductors, Dirac semimetals, Weyl semimetals, and scintillating materials, which have been extensively studied theoretically and are now being explored experimentally within the DAREDEVIL project.
The first phase of the project focuses on the development of gram-scale detectors with energy thresholds in the meV range, optimized for the detection of light dark matter via electron scattering. To achieve the sensitivity required to detect such small energy depositions, the selected crystals are used as absorbers in low-temperature calorimeters with dual phonon and infrared-photon readout.
In this contribution, we present the first results obtained with a low-temperature calorimeter based on a GaAs crystal, operated at 15 mK and coupled to a Neutron Transmutation Doped (NTD) thermistor for phonon readout. In addition, we report the first tests of the dual-readout technique, performed with a germanium light detector exploiting the Neganov–Trofimov–Luke (NTL) effect to amplify the phonon signal.
| Main Contribution topic | Light Dark Matter |
|---|---|
| Secondary contribution topic | Direct detection |