Lithium-Containing Crystals for Light Dark Matter Search Experiments

In the current direct dark matter search landscape, the leading experiments in the sub-GeV mass region mostly rely on cryogenic techniques which employ crystalline targets. One attractive type of crystals for these experiments is those containing lithium, due to the fact that $$^7\hbox {Li}$$7Li is an ideal candidate to study spin-dependent dark matter interactions in the low mass region. Furthermore, $$^6\hbox {Li}$$6Li can absorb neutrons, a challenging background for dark matter experiments, through a distinctive signature which allows the monitoring of the neutron flux directly on site. In this work, we show the results obtained with three different detectors based on $$\hbox {LiAlO}_2$$LiAlO2, a target crystal never used before in cryogenic experiments.