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Abstract  An important challenge faced by phonon-mediated detectors for the next generation of dark matter detectors (>100 kg) is to instrument large target mass at low cost, while maintaining the large background suppression offered by the combination of phonons and ionization (or scintillation) measurement. Kinetic inductance phonon sensors, operating far below the superconducting transition temperature, offer an interesting solution to this scaling problem. They do not critically depend on the uniformity of T c and their resonant-cavity readout is easy to multiplex. We are studying a microstrip (two parallel planes) transmission line architecture that may offer the additional advantage of a separation of functions: the main detector is just covered by an unpatterned aluminum film and the number of quasi-particles created in it by athermal phonons are sensed by a second film, which has been independently patterned and is mounted a few microns away from the detector. We present current results on the responsivity and noise of large area (∼33 mm2) microstrip kinetic inductance phonon sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract  The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) measures both the ionized charge and the energy in athermal phonons created by particle interactions in ultrapure germanium and silicon crystals at a temperature of 40 mK. Charge collection potentials must remain at only a few volts, else emitted phonons from drifted carriers will dominate the phonons of the original interaction. At these drift fields, there are practically no thermal phonons and carrier transport is determined by phonon emission. We present results for drift-limited carrier dynamics and rates of phonon emission in 〈100〉 germanium. As these transport conditions represent an extreme limit, a Monte Carlo technique was used to bypass analytical assumptions commonly used in solving the Boltzmann transport equation. This work will assist us in understanding phenomena found in our detectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]