Conveners
Parallel Session - Instrumentation for DM searches
- Laura Segui Iglesia (CAPA, Universidad de Zaragoza)
Parallel Session - Instrumentation for DM searches
- Grzegorz Zuzel (Jagiellonian University)
Parallel Session - Instrumentation for DM searches
- Vicente Pesudo Fortes (CIEMAT / LSC)
Parallel Session - Instrumentation for DM searches
- Daniel Baxter (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory)
Parallel Session - Instrumentation for DM searches
- Silvia Scorza (LPSC - CNRS)
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Alex Droster (Stanford University/SLAC National Laboratory)02/06/2026, 15:00InstrumentationOral presentation
In several proposed dark matter direct detection experiments, microwave photons in the THz/meV range are incident on a focal plane of detectors sensitive to single energy deposition events. Although various types of sensors have been proposed, none have yet demonstrated the ability to resolve single THz photon or meV phonon events across a wide bandwidth. The superconducting quasiparticle...
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SEUNGHAN LEE (POSTECH)02/06/2026, 15:15InstrumentationOral presentation
Graphene-based Josephson junction detectors are a promising platform for detecting low-energy events, leveraging grapheneโs exceptionally low electron heat capacity, intrinsically weak electronโphonon coupling, and the strong temperature dependence of the junction switching current [1]. Recently, we proposed a new strategy for detecting ultra-light dark matter with masses as low as 0.1 keV...
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Emanuela Celi (Northwestern University)02/06/2026, 15:30InstrumentationOral presentation
When an ionizing particle interacts with the substrate of a superconducting qubit chip, it generates high-energy athermal phonons that propagate through the material, breaking Cooper pairs in the superconducting films and inducing quasiparticle poisoning. These non-equilibrium quasiparticles limit qubit coherence times and introduce correlated errors across large qubit arrays, posing a major...
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Dr Jose Marรญa Garcรญa Barcelรณ (Universidad de Zaragoza)02/06/2026, 15:45InstrumentationOral presentation
The search for axions remains one of the most compelling frontiers in particle physics, offering a simultaneous solution to the strong CP problem and the nature of dark matter. Under the framework of the RADES collaboration, the DarkQuantum ERC Synergy Grant is spearheading a transformative approach to axion detection by integrating superconducting quantum technologies into haloscope...
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Kyung-Rae Woo (Institute for Basic Science in Korea)02/06/2026, 16:00InstrumentationOral presentation
Precision measurements of the tritium ฮฒ-decay spectrum provide a powerful and model-independent probe of physics beyond the Standard Model. In particular, keV-scale sterile neutrinos are well-motivated warm dark matter candidates that would induce a characteristic kink-like distortion in the ฮฒ spectrum. Furthermore, generalized neutrino interactions (GNIs) within a dimension-6 effective field...
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Daniel Baxter (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory)02/06/2026, 16:15InstrumentationOral presentation
Recent measurements have demonstrated that superconducting qubit decoherence is affected by radiation. As a result, many groups around the world are working to better understand the relationship between different types of radiation and qubit response. This crucial to quantum error correction because radiation can cause correlated loss of information across multiple qubits on a chip, defeating...
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121. The hunt for high frequency gravitational waves โ GravNet: a global network of HFGW detectorsKristof Schmieden (University of Bonn)02/06/2026, 16:30Axion/SterileOral presentation
A new window to the universe was opened up with the detection of
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gravitational waves. While observations have been made at frequencies
around hundreds of Herz, and evidence was found at nHz frequencies, the
high frequency region is still unexplored experimentally. To change this
the GravNet initiative was founded with the aim to setup a global
network of high frequency gravitational wave... -
Robert Renz Marcelo Gregorio (Australian National University)02/06/2026, 17:10InstrumentationOral presentation
Radon remains one of the most limiting backgrounds in direct detection dark matter searches. Major collaborations have made substantial progress in radon detection and mitigation. However, much of the foundational data underpinning radon removal efficiency, material emanation rates, diffusion coefficients, and suppression performance remains experiment-specific. Measurements are often...
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Alexander Kavner (University of Zurich)02/06/2026, 17:25InstrumentationOral presentation
Deep underground low-background laboratories are critical infrastructure for dark matter experiments and rare event physics searches. With real-estate in short supply, we are establishing a new underground laboratory in Tichinio, Switzerland. With 4000 meters water equivalent overburden, the Bedretto Lab has amongst the lowest cosmic ray fluxes in the world. The radiogenic backgrounds from...
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Silvia Scorza (LPSC - CNRS)02/06/2026, 17:40InstrumentationOral presentation
The Modane Underground Laboratory is the deepest tunnel-access underground laboratory in Europe. The experimental site is protected by a 4800 m.w.e. overburden that reduce the muon flux to 5 muons/m2/day, and is thus ideal for a wide range of applications requiring ultra-low radioactivity levels. I will present the evolution of this facility and of its science program in the domain of dark...
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Ludovico Luzzi (University of California Davis)02/06/2026, 17:55InstrumentationOral presentation
The next generation of rare-event search experiments in underground laboratories requires a precise understanding of all background sources, including environmental ฮณ-ray radiation within experimental halls.
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In this contribution, we present recent measurements of the environmental ฮณ-ray flux at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS). A dedicated campaign has been carried out using a... -
230. Boulby Underground Laboratory: Projects and plans at the UK's deep underground science facilityAlice Hamer (Boulby Underground Laboratory)02/06/2026, 18:10InstrumentationOral presentation
Boulby Underground Laboratory is the UK's deep underground science lab, located in the North East of England. Initially created to host dark matter direct detection experiments, the lab has since expanded into a multidisciplinary facility hosting a wide variety of projects, while continuing to maintain close connections with the dark matter community. As well as hosting a range of dark matter...
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Juliette Blรฉ (LPSC - Grenoble)03/06/2026, 15:00InstrumentationOral presentation
The search for dark matter has broadened to include low-mass candidates, motivating the development of detectors with extremely high sensitivities and low energy thresholds. The TESSERACT (Transition Edge Sensors with Sub-eV Resolution And Cryogenic Targets) experiment is designed to meet this challenge by deploying ultra-low-threshold cryogenic detectors combined with multiple target...
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Anna Bertolini (Heidelberg University)03/06/2026, 15:15InstrumentationOral presentation
The low-mass region of the dark matter (DM) parameter space remains largely unexplored, as detecting Light Dark Matter (LDM) requires both nuclear recoil thresholds below 100 eV and an approach capable of large exposures. The Direct search Experiment for Light dark matter (DELight) aims to address this challenge by using superfluid helium-4 as a target material, exploiting its low nuclear...
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Manuel Meyer (University of Southern Denmark)03/06/2026, 15:30InstrumentationOral presentation
Cryogenic transition edge sensors (TESs) are single photon detectors featuring excellent energy resolution below 10% and high quantum efficiency at optical and near-infrared wavelengths. If black-body backgrounds can be suppressed to sufficiently low levels, such detectors would be ideally suited for experiments searching for photon-axion conversion at these wavelengths such as...
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Aviv Simchony (Stanford)03/06/2026, 15:45InstrumentationOral presentation
The SuperCDMS HVeV program is an ongoing R&D effort to develop low energy threshold detectors for low-mass (sub-GeV) dark matter searches. The program focuses on gram-scale detectors, with the joint goals of probing new parameter space, and improving our understanding of phonon dynamics and low energy backgrounds in these detectors to inform the next generation of larger scale detectors. These...
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Lutz Ziegele (Max-Planck-Institut fรผr Physik)03/06/2026, 16:00InstrumentationOral presentation
In collaboration between the Cryogenic Observatory for SIgnatures seen in Next-generation Underground Searches (COSINUS)โa dual-channel dark-matter direct-detection experiment employing sodium iodide (NaI) as target materialโand the Observatory for Neutrino and Dark Matter Electron Scattering (OฮฝDES) project, we developed a cryogenic scintillating calorimeter that enables...
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Teresa Marrodan Undagoitia (Max-Planck-Institut fรผr Kernphysik)04/06/2026, 11:30InstrumentationOral presentation
Thanks to its excellent properties, xenon is widely used as a target material in dark matter and rare-event search experiments. Ultraviolet scintillation has long been recognized as the primary signal channel in xenon-based detectors and its properties have been well studied.
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However, xenon also emits infrared light, a component which has received very little attention so far. Taking... -
Patrick Knights (University of Birmingham)04/06/2026, 11:45InstrumentationOral presentation
While many current world-leading experiments utilise dual-phase noble element time projection chambers (TPC) to perform direct dark matter searches, a potential alternative that may be simpler and easier to scale-up is a single-phase TPC. However, achieving similar background discrimination and event localisation capabilities as current experiments is made challenging due to the requirement of...
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Dr Pedro Costa e Silva (Astrocent / CAMK PAN)04/06/2026, 12:00InstrumentationOral presentation
In this work we report the initial results of the first ultra-cold argon gas Time Projection Chamber (Ar-TPC) demonstrator developed at Astrocent, instrumenting both primary (S1) and secondary (S2) scintillation signals using a single optical readout plane, blind to Ar scintillation. This milestone represents a significant step forward in the development of compact, high-performance Ar-TPC...
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Hannah Danhel (รAW)04/06/2026, 12:15InstrumentationOral presentation
The impact of time resolution on achievable sensitivity across different generation rates has been investigated for direct light dark matter searches using deep sub-electron noise silicon detectors. In relevant experiments --- most prevalent using Skipper CCD or RNDR-DEPFETs --- the effective exclusion parameter space is predominantly limited by mass, exposure and background. A faster readout...
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Alasdair McLean (Adelaide University)04/06/2026, 12:30InstrumentationOral presentation
Directional Dark Matter (DM) detection using low pressure gaseous Time Projection Chambers (TPCs) is regarded as a promising approach for confidently probing parameter space below the neutrino fog. The use of Negative Ion Drift (NID) gases in these detectors, such as SFโ, substantially suppress charge diffusion during the drift phase to aid particle track reconstruction. However, achieving...
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Jianyang Qi (Stockholm University)04/06/2026, 12:45InstrumentationOral presentation
Axions provide an elegant solution to the strong CP problem and serve as a strong dark matter candidate. Recent cosmological simulations of post-inflationary scenarios indicate a preference for dark matter axions in the high-mass region above 10 GHz. To effectively probe this regime, plasma haloscopes utilize a tunable periodic metal wire array, a methodology driving the international ALPHA...
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Brenda Cervantes (Fermilab)04/06/2026, 13:00InstrumentationOral presentation
A promising approach to explore dark sectors, complementary to traditional accelerator-based searches, is the search for feebly interacting particles produced in high-energy interactions at accelerator facilities. Millicharged particles (mCPs), hypothetical particles carrying a small fractional electric charge, provide a well-motivated benchmark for such searches. Arising naturally in...
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Ferdos Dastgiri (University College London)04/06/2026, 15:00InstrumentationOral presentation
In this talk I will outline the unique challenges of scaling up, and efforts we are exploring to push down background of the next-generation xenon dark matter direct-detection experiment, XLZD. The detector is envisioned as a 60-80 tonne active liquid xenon time projection chamber and rare event observatory, building upon the expertise of the XENON, LZ, and DARWIN collaborations with...
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Emanuele Angelino (University of Chicago)04/06/2026, 15:15InstrumentationOral presentation
The Neutron Veto of the XENONnT experiment is a Gd-loaded water Cherenkov detector designed to tag radiogenic neutrons from detector materials, a primary source of nuclear recoil backgrounds in the WIMP search. It consists of a water volume surrounding the cryostat, enclosed by reflective ePTFE panels to enhance light collection and instrumented with 120 8-inch PMTs.
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After the first science... -
Julian Guerrero Canovas (CIEMAT)04/06/2026, 15:30InstrumentationOral presentation
The study of ($\alpha,n$) reactions is becoming increasingly important for the rare-event search community. Alpha particles originating from uranium and thorium decay chains can interact with detector materials, producing neutrons that may induce nuclear recoils in the region of interest for direct dark matter searches, thereby generating a background indistinguishable from a WIMP signal.
A...
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Melba D'Astolfo (Gran Sasso Science Institute)04/06/2026, 15:45InstrumentationOral presentation
A precise characterization of the environmental neutron spectrum in underground laboratories is crucial for designing future large-scale detectors and improving background modelling in rare-event searches. While fast neutrons already pose a significant background, thermal neutrons are expected to gain importance due to neutron-induced activation of detector materials. Previous flux estimates...
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Prof. Yuehuan Wei (Sun Yat-sen University)04/06/2026, 16:00InstrumentationOral presentation
PandaX is a direct detection dark matter and neutrino experiment located at the China Jinping Underground Laboratory (CJPL). It utilizes liquid xenon technology to search for dark matter particles and study neutrino physics. Neutron- and gamma-induced backgrounds can be mitigated using an external veto detector. In this presentation, I will introduce the performance of a water Cherenkov veto...
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Maximo David Ave Pernas (Gran Sasso Science Institute)04/06/2026, 16:15InstrumentationOral presentation
The Recoil Directionality project (ReD) within the Global Argon Dark Matter Collaboration characterized the response of a liquid argon (LAr) dual-phase Time Projection Chamber (TPC) to neutron-induced nuclear recoils, to measure the charge yield Qy at low-energy. The charge yield is a critical parameter for the experiments searching for dark matter in the form of low-mass WIMPs and...
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Ruben Coronel (Stanford University)04/06/2026, 16:30InstrumentationOral presentation
The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment operates a dual-phase xenon time projection chamber with a 7-tonne active mass, which detects both scintillation photons (S1) and ionization electrons (S2) from particle interactions. LZ has recently placed world-leading limits on dark matter-nucleon scattering cross sections for masses down to 5 GeV/$c^2$ and reported 4.5๐ evidence of coherent elastic...
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Andreas Erhart (Technical University of Munich (TUM))InstrumentationOral presentation
Searches for light dark matter and studies of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering require detector technologies with energy thresholds in the 10-100 eV regime. While cryogenic calorimeters are a leading technology in this domain, a precise calibration of their response to sub-keV nuclear recoils remains a central experimental challenge. The CRAB collaboration has developed a novel,...
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