DarkSide-20k
A 50-tonne liquid argon time projection chamber under construction at Gran Sasso, designed for a background-free search for dark matter down to the neutrino fog.
Research
Two of the deepest open questions in physics can only be answered by looking for extraordinarily rare events: What is dark matter made of? and why is there more matter than antimatter in the universe?
Our group builds and operates ultra-low-background detectors deep underground to go after these questions. We search for dark matter particles scattering in tonnes of liquid argon with DarkSide-20k, and develop the silicon photosensors and low-threshold detection techniques that the next generation of dark matter and neutrinoless double beta decay experiments depends on.
What ties the program together is a shared experimental toolkit: cryogenic noble liquids, single-photon detection with silicon photomultipliers, radiopure materials, and careful control of backgrounds down to a handful of events per year.
Current Projects
Detector R&D with SiPMs
Developing silicon photomultipliers and low-threshold silicon detectors for the next generation of dark matter and neutrino experiments.
Past Projects
EXO-200 & nEXO
Earlier work on the search for neutrinoless double beta decay of xenon-136 with liquid xenon time projection chambers.