Search

The CDMS collaboration utilizes Ge detectors for their Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) search at the Soudan mine, Minnesota. The final data run of CDMS II is complete and a detector upgrade for SuperCDMS has commenced. A SuperTower of five 1-inch thick Ge crystals has been installed and undergoing commissioning. Its surface-event rejection capability should allow SuperCDMS to continue to run background free for the next proposed phases: 15 kg Ge deployment at Soudan, and up to 150 kg Ge deployment at SNOLAB. Recent detector advances to allow a 1 tonne Ge experiment are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The newly commissioned SuperCDMS Soudan experiment aims to search for WIMP dark matter with a sensitivity to cross sections of 5×10-45cm2 and larger (90% CL upper limit). This goal is facilitated by a new set of germanium detectors, 2.5 times more massive than the ones used in the CDMS-II experiment, and with a different athermal phonon sensor layout that eliminates radial degeneracy in position reconstruction of high radius events. We present characterization data on these detectors, as well as improved techniques for correcting position-dependent variations in pulse shape across the detector. These improvements provide surface-event discrimination sufficient for a reach of 5×10-45cm2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For its dark matter search the SuperCDMS collaboration has developed new Ge detectors using the same athermal phonon sensors and ionization measurement technology of CDMS II but with larger mass, superior sensor performance and increased fabrication efficiency. The improvements in fabrication are described, a comparison of CDMS II and SuperCDMS detector production yield is reported, and future scalability addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]