First measurement of nuclear recoil head-tail sense in a fiducialised WIMP dark matter detector

J. B. R. Battat, E. Daw, A. C. Ezeribe, J.-L. Gauvreau, J. L. Harton, R. Lafler, E. R. Lee, D. Loomba, A. Lumnah, E. H. Miller, F. Mouton, A. StJ. Murphy, S. M. Paling, N. S. Phan, M. Robinson, S. W. Sadler, A. Scarff, F. G., II Schuckman, D. P. Snowden-Ifft, N. J. C. Spooner

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Recent computational results suggest that directional dark matter detectors have potential to probe for WIMP dark matter particles below the neutrino floor. The DRIFT-IId detector used in this work is a leading directional WIMP search time projection chamber detector. We report the first measurements of the detection of the directional nuclear recoils in a fully fiducialised low-pressure time projection chamber. In this new operational mode, the distance between each event vertex and the readout plane is determined by the measurement of minority carriers produced by adding a small amount of oxygen to the nominal CS2+CF4 target gas mixture. The CS2+CF4+O2 mixture has been shown to enable background-free operation at current sensitivities. Sulfur, fluorine, and carbon recoils were generated using neutrons emitted from a 252Cf source positioned at different locations around the detector. Measurement of the relative energy loss along the recoil tracks allowed the track vector sense, or the so-called head-tail asymmetry parameter, to be deduced. Results show that the previously reported observation of head-tail sensitivity in pure CS2 is well retained after the addition of oxygen to the gas mixture.
Original languageEnglish
Article numberP10019
JournalJournal of Instrumentation
Volume11
Issue number10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 27 Oct 2016

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'First measurement of nuclear recoil head-tail sense in a fiducialised WIMP dark matter detector'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this