Nuclear-recoil energy scale in CDMS II silicon dark-matter detectors

The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS II) experiment aims to detect dark matter particles that elastically scatter from nuclei in semiconductor detectors. In this paper, the resulting nuclear-recoil energy depositions are detected by ionization and phonon sensors. Neutrons produce a similar spectru...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment, 2018-07, Vol.905 (C)
Main Authors: Agnese, R., Anderson, A. J., Aramaki, T., Baker, W., Banik, S., Barker, D., Basu Thakur, R., Bauer, D. A., Binder, T., Borgland, A., Brink, P. L., Bunker, R., Cabrera, B., Caldwell, D. O., Calkins, R., Cartaro, C., Cerdeño, D. G., Chang, Y. -Y., Chagani, H., Cooley, J., Cornell, B., Cushman, P., Daal, M., Doughty, T., Dragowsky, E. M., Esteban, L., Fallows, S., Fascione, E., Figueroa-Feliciano, E., Fritts, M., Gerbier, G., Germond, R., Golwala, S. R., Hall, J., Harris, H. R., Holmgren, D., Hong, Z., Hsu, L., Huber, M. E., Iyer, V., Jastram, A., Jena, C., Kelsey, M. H., Kennedy, A., Kubik, A., Kurinsky, N. A., Leder, A., Lopez Asamar, E., Lukens, P., MacDonell, D., Mahapatra, R., Mandic, V., Mast, N., McCarthy, K. A., Miller, E. H., Mirabolfathi, N., Moffatt, R. A., Mohanty, B., Morales Mendoza, J. D., Nelson, J., Oser, S. M., Page, K., Page, W. A., Partridge, R., Penalver Martinez, M., Pepin, M., Phipps, A., Poudel, S., Pyle, M., Qiu, H., Rau, W., Redl, P., Reisetter, A., Roberts, A., Rogers, H. E., Robinson, A. E., Saab, T., Sadoulet, B., Sander, J., Schneck, K., Schnee, R. W., Scorza, S., Senapati, K., Serfass, B., Speller, D., Di Stefano, P. C. F., Stein, M., Street, J., Tanaka, H. A., Toback, D., Underwood, R., von Krosigk, B., Welliver, B., Wilson, J. S., Wilson, M. J., Wright, D. H., Yellin, S., Yen, J. J., Zhang, X., Zhao, X.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
dark matter
detector calibration
INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
ionization yield
nuclear-recoil energy scale
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS II) experiment aims to detect dark matter particles that elastically scatter from nuclei in semiconductor detectors. In this paper, the resulting nuclear-recoil energy depositions are detected by ionization and phonon sensors. Neutrons produce a similar spectrum of low-energy nuclear recoils in such detectors, while most other backgrounds produce electron recoils. The absolute energy scale for nuclear recoils is necessary to interpret results correctly. The energy scale can be determined in CDMS II silicon detectors using neutrons incident from a broad-spectrum 252 Cf source, taking advantage of a prominent resonance in the neutron elastic scattering cross section of silicon at a recoil (neutron) energy near 20 (182) keV. Results indicate that the phonon collection efficiency for nuclear recoils is 4 . 8 - 0 . 9 + 0 . 7 % lower than for electron recoils of the same energy. Comparisons of the ionization signals for nuclear recoils to those measured previously by other groups at higher electric fields indicate that the ionization collection efficiency for CDMS II silicon detectors operated at ~ 4 V/cm is consistent with 100% for nuclear recoils below 20 keV and gradually decreases for larger energies to ~ 75% at 100 keV. Finally, the impact of these measurements on previously published CDMS II silicon results is small.
ISSN:0168-9002
1872-9576