The ANDROMeDa project, recently funded by the italian ministry of research with a 1Me grant, has the objective of developing, over the course of the next three years, a novel dark matter (DM) detector based on carbon nanotubes: the ‘dark-PMT’. Such a detector would be sensitive to DM-electron recoils in the eV energy range, and could have world-leading sensitivity for DM masses below 30 MeV with an exposure of only 1 g ⋅ year. Significant R&D is needed to produce carbon nanotubes with ideal properties for a DM target. In particular two by-products of synthesis (non-aligned crust layer and the sub-μm ‘waviness’) are expected to reduce electron transmission probability, and therefore need to be minimized. This will be done via a precise tuning of the evaporation and growth parameters, and of post-growth plasma etching.
Pandolfi, F., Rago, I., Cavoto, G., Mariani, C., Apponi, A., Ruocco, A. (2023). The dark-PMT: A novel directional light dark matter detector based on vertically-aligned carbon nanotubes. NUCLEAR INSTRUMENTS & METHODS IN PHYSICS RESEARCH. SECTION A, ACCELERATORS, SPECTROMETERS, DETECTORS AND ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT, 1050, 168116 [10.1016/j.nima.2023.168116].
The dark-PMT: A novel directional light dark matter detector based on vertically-aligned carbon nanotubes
Apponi A.;Ruocco A.
2023-01-01
Abstract
The ANDROMeDa project, recently funded by the italian ministry of research with a 1Me grant, has the objective of developing, over the course of the next three years, a novel dark matter (DM) detector based on carbon nanotubes: the ‘dark-PMT’. Such a detector would be sensitive to DM-electron recoils in the eV energy range, and could have world-leading sensitivity for DM masses below 30 MeV with an exposure of only 1 g ⋅ year. Significant R&D is needed to produce carbon nanotubes with ideal properties for a DM target. In particular two by-products of synthesis (non-aligned crust layer and the sub-μm ‘waviness’) are expected to reduce electron transmission probability, and therefore need to be minimized. This will be done via a precise tuning of the evaporation and growth parameters, and of post-growth plasma etching.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
