R. Bourque | Searcharxiv

arXiv2014

Update on the MiniCLEAN Dark Matter Experiment

The direct search for dark matter is entering a period of increased sensitivity to the hypothetical Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP). One such technology that is being examined is a scintillation only noble liquid experiment, MiniCLEAN. MiniCLEAN utilizes over 500 kg of liquid cryogen to detect nuclear recoils from WIMP dark matter and serves as a demonstration for a future detector of order 50 to 100 tonnes. The liquid cryogen is interchangeable between argon and neon to study the A$^{2}$ dependence of the potential signal and examine backgrounds. MiniCLEAN utilizes a unique modular design with spherical geometry to maximize the light yield using cold photomultiplier tubes in a single-phase detector. Pulse shape discrimination techniques are used to separate nuclear recoil signals from electron recoil backgrounds. MiniCLEAN will be spiked with additional $^{39}$Ar to demonstrate the effective reach of the pulse shape discrimination capability. Assembly of the experiment is underway at SNOLAB and an update on the project is given.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2000

Overview of the APT Accelerator Design

The accelerator for the APT Project is a 100 mA CW proton linac with an output energy of 1030 MeV. A High Energy Beam Transport (HEBT) conveys the beam to a raster expander, that provides a large rectangular distribution at a target/blanket (T/B) assembly. Spallation neutrons generated by the proton beam in the T/B reacts with Helium-3 to produce tritium. The design of the APT linac is an integrated normal-conducting (NC)/superconducting (SC) proton linac; the machine architecture has been discussed elsewhere [1]. The NC linac consists of a 75 keV injector, a 6.7-MeV 350-MHz RFQ (radio frequency quadrupole), a 96-MeV 700-MHz CCDTL (coupled-cavity drift-tube linac), and a 700-MHz CCL (coupled-cavity linac), with an output energy of 211 MeV. This is followed by a SC linac, that employs 700-MHz elliptical niobium 5-cell cavities to accelerate the beam to the final energy. The SC linac has two sections, optimized for beam velocities of b =0.64 and b =0.82. Each section is made up of cryomodules containing two, three, or four 5-cell cavities, driven by 1-MW 700-MHz klystrons. The singlet FODO lattice in the NC linac transitions to a doublet focusing lattice in the SC linac, with conventional quadrupole magnets in the warm inter-module spaces. This doublet lattice is continued in the HEBT. An overview of the current linac design will be presented.

physics.acc-ph↗