arXiv subjects

Z. Hong

Publications and source records attributed to Z. Hong.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Ultralow Mean Transverse Energy and High Quantum Efficiency Cryogenic Bialkali Photocathode for MHz-Repetition-Rate Electron Sources

Simultaneously achieving high quantum efficiency (QE), ultralow mean transverse energy (MTE), and robust long-term operation under conditions relevant to continuous-wave (CW) X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) remains a central challenge for semiconductor photocathodes. This challenge arises from the trade-off between QE and MTE, as well as the difficulty of maintaining stable operation in high-field CW electron guns. Here we demonstrate a cryogenic K2CsSb photocathode that simultaneously achieves high QE, ultralow MTE, and robust long-term operation in a CW gun under XFEL-relevant operating conditions. Under cryogenic operation, the photocathode achieves an MTE of 50 meV while sustaining a QE of 5.4%. Milliampere-level CW current, including operation at 5 mA, was demonstrated together with an approximately 20-day operational history. The observations are consistent with improved carrier survival and/or surface escape in photocathodes prepared using the optimized recipe. These results show that the practical QE-MTE trade-off can be substantially mitigated in cryogenic bialkali photocathodes and provide a practical pathway toward high-brightness electron sources for CW XFELs and energy-recovery linacs.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2026

Calibration and Performance of Germanium High Voltage Detectors for SuperCDMS SNOLAB

As SuperCDMS SNOLAB is getting ready to search for low mass dark matter particles, using cryogenic Ge and Si detectors, a set of six of the new SuperCDMS High Voltage (HV) detectors (four Ge and two Si) were tested in the Cryogenic Underground TEst facility (CUTE) at SNOLAB. This provided the first opportunity to gain experience with this new detector type and assess their performance thoroughly under low background conditions. Here we describe the SuperCDMS HV detector concept and discuss some of the newly developed analysis methods and approaches. Focusing on the Ge detectors, we investigate the detector performance under voltage bias (up to 90 V), exercise the low energy (keV to sub-keV range) calibration based on the electron capture peaks generated by the decay of $^{71}$Ge, assess the detector resolution, and demonstrate the unexpected (and encouraging) ability of these detectors to also measure high energy interactions in the hundreds of keV range with good resolution (better than 3% at 356 keV).

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2026

Radiopurity material assays and radiation exposure projections for superconducting qubit measurements at SNOLAB

Interactions of cosmic rays and other forms of ionizing radiation pose a significant challenge to the reliable operation of state-of-the-art quantum devices and error correction in quantum computing based on superconducting circuits which are typically fabricated on semiconductor substrates. Shielded by 2 km of rock overburden, the Cryogenic Underground TEst facility (CUTE) at SNOLAB provides a unique ultra-low radiation environment to probe the performance of quantum technologies with a particular interest in quantum coherence studies. In this article, we present the findings of an extensive material assaying program in preparation for the first underground operation of superconducting qubits at SNOLAB. The radioactivity levels identified by the material assays enter a thorough Monte Carlo study based on the Geant4 particle physics tracking code. From these simulations, we estimate the rates of energy deposits from radiogenic sources expected for a quantum-device assembly operated in the CUTE facility. We further characterize the spectral components of the projected background and identify the dominant particle interaction types. Finally, we outline how crystal dynamics simulations using the G4CMP solid-state physics extension for Geant4 can inform the community-wide efforts to identify effective strategies to mitigate the effects of high-energy particle impacts.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2026

Search for low-mass electron-recoil dark matter using a single-charge sensitive SuperCDMS-HVeV Detector

We present constraints on low-mass dark matter electron scattering and absorption interactions using a SuperCDMS high-voltage eV-resolution (HVeV) detector. Data were taken underground in the NEXUS facility located at Fermilab with an overburden of 225 meters of water equivalent. The experiment benefits from the minimizing of luminescence from the printed circuit boards in the detector holder used in all previous HVeV studies. A blind analysis of $6.1\,\mathrm{g\cdot days}$ of exposure produces exclusion limits for dark matter-electron scattering cross sections for masses as low as $1\,\mathrm{MeV}/c^2$, as well as on the photon-dark photon mixing parameter and the coupling constant between axionlike particles and electrons for particles with masses $>1.2\,\mathrm{eV}/c^2$ probed via absorption processes.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2025

Low-Energy Calibration of SuperCDMS HVeV Cryogenic Silicon Calorimeters Using Compton Steps

Cryogenic calorimeters for low-mass dark matter searches have achieved sub-eV energy resolutions, driving advances in both low-energy calibration techniques and our understanding of detector physics. The energy deposition spectrum of gamma rays scattering off target materials exhibits step-like features, known as Compton steps, near the binding energies of atomic electrons. We demonstrate a successful use of Compton steps for sub-keV calibration of cryogenic silicon calorimeters, utilizing four SuperCDMS High-Voltage eV-resolution (HVeV) detectors operated with 0 V bias across the crystal. This new calibration at 0 V is compared with the established high-voltage calibration using optical photons. The comparison indicates that the detector response at 0 V is about 30% weaker than expected, highlighting challenges in detector response modeling for low-mass dark matter searches.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2025

Multi-channel, multi-template event reconstruction for SuperCDMS data using machine learning

SuperCDMS SNOLAB uses kilogram-scale germanium and silicon detectors to search for dark matter. Each detector has Transition Edge Sensors (TESs) patterned on the top and bottom faces of a large crystal substrate, with the TESs electrically grouped into six phonon readout channels per face. Noise correlations are expected among a detector's readout channels, in part because the channels and their readout electronics are located in close proximity to one another. Moreover, owing to the large size of the detectors, energy deposits can produce vastly different phonon propagation patterns depending on their location in the substrate, resulting in a strong position dependence in the readout-channel pulse shapes. Both of these effects can degrade the energy resolution and consequently diminish the dark matter search sensitivity of the experiment if not accounted for properly. We present a new algorithm for pulse reconstruction, mathematically formulated to take into account correlated noise and pulse shape variations. This new algorithm fits N readout channels with a superposition of M pulse templates simultaneously - hence termed the N$\times$M filter. We describe a method to derive the pulse templates using principal component analysis (PCA) and to extract energy and position information using a gradient boosted decision tree (GBDT). We show that these new N$\times$M and GBDT analysis tools can reduce the impact from correlated noise sources while improving the reconstructed energy resolution for simulated mono-energetic events by more than a factor of three and for the 71Ge K-shell electron-capture peak recoils measured in a previous version of SuperCDMS called CDMSlite to $<$ 50 eV from the previously published value of $\sim$100 eV. These results lay the groundwork for position reconstruction in SuperCDMS with the N$\times$M outputs.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2025

Community Report from the 2025 SNOLAB Future Projects Workshop

SNOLAB hosts a biannual Future Projects Workshop (FPW) with the goal of encouraging future project stakeholders to present ideas, concepts, and needs for experiments or programs that could one day be hosted at SNOLAB. The 2025 FPW was held in the larger context of a 15-year planning exercise requested by the Canada Foundation for Innovation. This report collects input from the community, including both contributions to the workshop and contributions that could not be scheduled in the workshop but nonetheless are important to the community.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2025

First demonstration of a TES based cryogenic Li$_2$MoO$_4$detector for neutrinoless double beta decay search

Cryogenic calorimetric experiments to search for neutrinoless double-beta decay ($0νββ$) are highly competitive, scalable and versatile in isotope. The largest planned detector array, CUPID, is comprised of about 1500 individual Li$_2^{100}$MoO$_{4}$ detector modules with a further scale up envisioned for a follow up experiment (CUPID-1T). In this article, we present a novel detector concept targeting this second stage with a low impedance TES based readout for the Li$_2$MoO$_{4}$ absorber that is easily mass-produced and lends itself to a multiplexed readout. We present the detector design and results from a first prototype detector operated at the NEXUS shallow underground facility at Fermilab. The detector is a 2-cm-side cube with 21$\,$g mass that is strongly thermally coupled to its readout chip to allow rise-times of $\sim$0.5$\,$ms. This design is more than one order of magnitude faster than present NTD based detectors and is hence expected to effectively mitigate backgrounds generated through the pile-up of two independent two neutrino decay events coinciding close in time. Together with a baseline resolution of 1.95$\,$keV (FWHM) these performance parameters extrapolate to a background index from pile-up as low as $5\cdot 10^{-6}\,$counts/keV/kg/yr in CUPID size crystals. The detector was calibrated up to the MeV region showing sufficient dynamic range for $0νββ$ searches. In combination with a SuperCDMS HVeV detector this setup also allowed us to perform a precision measurement of the scintillation time constants of Li$_2$MoO$_{4}$. The crystal showed a significant fast scintillation emission with O(10$\,μ$s) time-scale, more than an order below the detector response of presently considered light detectors suggesting the possibility of further progress in pile-up rejection through better light detectors in the future.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2024

Light Dark Matter Constraints from SuperCDMS HVeV Detectors Operated Underground with an Anticoincidence Event Selection

This article presents constraints on dark-matter-electron interactions obtained from the first underground data-taking campaign with multiple SuperCDMS HVeV detectors operated in the same housing. An exposure of 7.63 g-days is used to set upper limits on the dark-matter-electron scattering cross section for dark matter masses between 0.5 and 1000 MeV/$c^2$, as well as upper limits on dark photon kinetic mixing and axion-like particle axioelectric coupling for masses between 1.2 and 23.3 eV/$c^2$. Compared to an earlier HVeV search, sensitivity was improved as a result of an increased overburden of 225 meters of water equivalent, an anticoincidence event selection, and better pile-up rejection. In the case of dark-matter-electron scattering via a heavy mediator, an improvement by up to a factor of 25 in cross-section sensitivity was achieved.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2024

Improved Modelling of Detector Response Effects in Phonon-based Crystal Detectors used for Dark Matter Searches

Various dark matter search experiments employ phonon-based crystal detectors operated at cryogenic temperatures. Some of these detectors, including certain silicon detectors used by the SuperCDMS Collaboration, are able to achieve single-charge sensitivity when a voltage bias is applied across the detector. The total amount of phonon energy measured by such a detector is proportional to the number of electron-hole pairs created by the interaction. However, crystal impurities and surface effects can cause propagating charges to either become trapped inside the crystal or create additional unpaired charges, producing non-quantized measured energy as a result. A new analytical model for describing these detector response effects in phonon-based crystal detectors is presented. This model improves upon previous versions by demonstrating how the detector response, and thus the measured energy spectrum, is expected to differ depending on the source of events. We use this model to extract detector response parameters for SuperCDMS HVeV detectors, and illustrate how this robust modelling can help statistically discriminate between sources of events in order to improve the sensitivity of dark matter search experiments.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2024

Results from a Prototype TES Detector for the Ricochet Experiment

Coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CE$ν$NS) offers valuable sensitivity to physics beyond the Standard Model. The Ricochet experiment will use cryogenic solid-state detectors to perform a precision measurement of the CE$ν$NS spectrum induced by the high neutrino flux from the Institut Laue-Langevin nuclear reactor. The experiment will employ an array of detectors, each with a mass of $\sim$30 g and a targeted energy threshold of 50 eV. Nine of these detectors (the "Q-Array") will be based on a novel Transition-Edge Sensor (TES) readout style, in which the TES devices are thermally coupled to the absorber using a gold wire bond. We present initial characterization of a Q-Array-style detector using a 1 gram silicon absorber, obtaining a baseline root-mean-square resolution of less than 40 eV.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2023

Modeling and characterization of TES-based detectors for the Ricochet experiment

Coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CE$ν$NS) offers a valuable approach in searching for physics beyond the Standard Model. The Ricochet experiment aims to perform a precision measurement of the CE$ν$NS spectrum at the Institut Laue-Langevin nuclear reactor with cryogenic solid-state detectors. The experiment plans to employ an array of cryogenic thermal detectors, each with a mass around 30 g and an energy threshold of sub-100 eV. The array includes nine detectors read out by Transition-Edge Sensors (TES). These TES based detectors will also serve as demonstrators for future neutrino experiments with thousands of detectors. In this article we present an update in the characterization and modeling of a prototype TES detector.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2023

First demonstration of 30 eVee ionization energy resolution with Ricochet germanium cryogenic bolometers

The future Ricochet experiment aims to search for new physics in the electroweak sector by measuring the Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering process from reactor antineutrinos with high precision down to the sub-100 eV nuclear recoil energy range. While the Ricochet collaboration is currently building the experimental setup at the reactor site, it is also finalizing the cryogenic detector arrays that will be integrated into the cryostat at the Institut Laue Langevin in early 2024. In this paper, we report on recent progress from the Ge cryogenic detector technology, called the CryoCube. More specifically, we present the first demonstration of a 30~eVee (electron equivalent) baseline ionization resolution (RMS) achieved with an early design of the detector assembly and its dedicated High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT) based front-end electronics. This represents an order of magnitude improvement over the best ionization resolutions obtained on similar heat-and-ionization germanium cryogenic detectors from the EDELWEISS and SuperCDMS dark matter experiments, and a factor of three improvement compared to the first fully-cryogenic HEMT-based preamplifier coupled to a CDMS-II germanium detector. Additionally, we discuss the implications of these results in the context of the future Ricochet experiment and its expected background mitigation performance.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2023

A Strategy for Low-Mass Dark Matter Searches with Cryogenic Detectors in the SuperCDMS SNOLAB Facility

The SuperCDMS Collaboration is currently building SuperCDMS SNOLAB, a dark matter search focused on nucleon-coupled dark matter in the 1-5 GeV/c$^2$ mass range. Looking to the future, the Collaboration has developed a set of experience-based upgrade scenarios, as well as novel directions, to extend the search for dark matter using the SuperCDMS technology in the SNOLAB facility. The experienced-based scenarios are forecasted to probe many square decades of unexplored dark matter parameter space below 5 GeV/c$^2$, covering over 6 decades in mass: 1-100 eV/c$^2$ for dark photons and axion-like particles, 1-100 MeV/c$^2$ for dark-photon-coupled light dark matter, and 0.05-5 GeV/c$^2$ for nucleon-coupled dark matter. They will reach the neutrino fog in the 0.5-5 GeV/c$^2$ mass range and test a variety of benchmark models and sharp targets. The novel directions involve greater departures from current SuperCDMS technology but promise even greater reach in the long run, and their development must begin now for them to be available in a timely fashion. The experienced-based upgrade scenarios rely mainly on dramatic improvements in detector performance based on demonstrated scaling laws and reasonable extrapolations of current performance. Importantly, these improvements in detector performance obviate significant reductions in background levels beyond current expectations for the SuperCDMS SNOLAB experiment. Given that the dominant limiting backgrounds for SuperCDMS SNOLAB are cosmogenically created radioisotopes in the detectors, likely amenable only to isotopic purification and an underground detector life-cycle from before crystal growth to detector testing, the potential cost and time savings are enormous and the necessary improvements much easier to prototype.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2023

First measurement of the nuclear-recoil ionization yield in silicon at 100 eV

We measured the nuclear--recoil ionization yield in silicon with a cryogenic phonon-sensitive gram-scale detector. Neutrons from a mono-energetic beam scatter off of the silicon nuclei at angles corresponding to energy depositions from 4\,keV down to 100\,eV, the lowest energy probed so far. The results show no sign of an ionization production threshold above 100\,eV. These results call for further investigation of the ionization yield theory and a comprehensive determination of the detector response function at energies below the keV scale.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2023

A Search for Low-mass Dark Matter via Bremsstrahlung Radiation and the Migdal Effect in SuperCDMS

We present a new analysis of previously published of SuperCDMS data using a profile likelihood framework to search for sub-GeV dark matter (DM) particles through two inelastic scattering channels: bremsstrahlung radiation and the Migdal effect. By considering these possible inelastic scattering channels, experimental sensitivity can be extended to DM masses that are undetectable through the DM-nucleon elastic scattering channel, given the energy threshold of current experiments. We exclude DM masses down to $220~\textrm{MeV}/c^2$ at $2.7 \times 10^{-30}~\textrm{cm}^2$ via the bremsstrahlung channel. The Migdal channel search provides overall considerably more stringent limits and excludes DM masses down to $30~\textrm{MeV}/c^2$ at $5.0 \times 10^{-30}~\textrm{cm}^2$.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2023

G4CMP: Condensed Matter Physics Simulation Using the Geant4 Toolkit

G4CMP simulates phonon and charge transport in cryogenic semiconductor crystals using the Geant4 toolkit. The transport code is capable of simulating the propagation of acoustic phonons as well as electron and hole charge carriers. Processes for anisotropic phonon propagation, oblique charge-carrier propagation, and phonon emission by accelerated charge carriers are included. The simulation reproduces theoretical predictions and experimental observations such as phonon caustics, heat-pulse propagation times, and mean charge-carrier drift velocities. In addition to presenting the physics and features supported by G4CMP, this report outlines example applications from the dark matter and quantum information science communities. These communities are applying G4CMP to model and design devices for which the energy transported by phonons and charge carriers is germane to the performance of superconducting instruments and circuits placed on silicon and germanium substrates. The G4CMP package is available to download from GitHub: github.com/kelseymh/G4CMP.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2022

Transition Edge Sensor Chip Design of Modular CEνNS Detector for the Ricochet Experiment

Coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CE$ν$NS) offers a valuable approach in searching for physics beyond the Standard Model. The Ricochet experiment aims to perform a precision measurement of the CE$ν$NS spectrum at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) nuclear reactor with cryogenic solid-state detectors. The experiment will employ an array of cryogenic thermal detectors, each with a mass of around 30 g and an energy threshold of 50 eV. One section of this array will contain 9 Transition Edge Sensor (TES) based calorimeters. The design will not only fulfill requirements for Ricochet, but also act as a demonstrator for future neutrino experiments that will require thousands of macroscopic detectors. In this article we present an updated TES chip design as well as performance predictions based on a numerical modeling.

physics.ins-det↗