Speaker
Mr
Marc Wuestrich
(Max-Planck-Institute f. Physics)
Description
Located in the Gran Sasso underground laboratory, the CRESST ex-
periment aims for the direct detection of dark matter by using cryogenic
calorimeters to detect dark matter induced nuclear scattering processes
in scintillating CaWO4 crystals. The identification and rejection of back-
grounds is crucial for rare event searches like CRESST. Therefore, a two
channel readout detector is implemented that allows to distinguish be-
tween different particle interactions by the ratio of energy deposited di-
rectly in the CaWO4, measured as heat, and the amount of scintillation
light being simultaneously produced.
In the last physics run, CRESST-II (Phase 2) was able to explore new
regions in the DM parameter space and to set the leading limit for dark
matter masses below ≈1.7 GeV/c2 . In the future (CRESST-III (Phase 1)),
the CRESST experiment will focus on the low-mass dark matter region.
Based on established detector techniques, a new detector module was
developed which is optimized for very low detection thresholds (<100 eV).
Featuring a 10 times smaller CaWO4 crystal, the heat channel of the
detectors is significantly improved compared to older designs and opens
access to new regions in the dark matter parameter space. Currently, this
new generation of detectors is installed underground and ready for data
taking. The talk will give an overview of the latest results and of the
current status of the detector R&D.
Primary author
Mr
Marc Wuestrich
(Max-Planck-Institute f. Physics)
