SABRE/SUPL Talks (2016 - present) [in reverse order]

2023

@Zuzana Slavkovska

Canberra

https://aip-summer-meeting.com/

04/12/23 - 08/12/23

The SABRE South Experiment at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory

The SABRE (Sodium iodide with Active Background REjection) experiment aims to detect an annual rate modulation from dark matter interactions in ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals in order to provide a model independent test of the signal observed by DAMA/LIBRA. It is made up of two separate detectors; SABRE South located at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL), in regional Victoria, Australia, and SABRE North at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS).

SABRE South is designed to disentangle seasonal or site-related effects from the dark matter-like modulated signal by using an active veto and muon detection system.  Ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals are immersed in a linear alkyl benzene (LAB) based liquid scintillator veto, further surrounded by passive steel and polyethylene shielding and a plastic scintillator muon veto. Significant work has been undertaken to understand and mitigate the background processes, that take into account radiation from the detector materials, from both intrinsic and cosmogenic activated processes, and to understand the performance of both the crystal and veto systems.

SUPL is a newly built facility located 1024 m underground (~2900 m water equivalent) within the Stawell Gold Mine and its construction has been completed in 2022/2023. The laboratory will house rare event physics searches, including the upcoming SABRE dark matter experiment, as well as measurement facilities to support low background physics experiments and applications such as radiobiology and quantum computing. The SABRE South commissioning is expected to occur in 2023/2024.

This talk will report the general status of the SABRE South assembly and on the design of SUPL.

2023

@Irene Bolognino

Adelaide

https://agenda.infn.it/event/33457/ - 11/09/23 - 15/09/23

The SABRE South Experiment at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory

The SABRE (Sodium iodide with Active Background REjection) experiment aims to detect an annual rate modulation from dark matter interactions in ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals in order to provide a model independent test of the signal observed by DAMA/LIBRA. It is made up of two separate detectors; SABRE South located at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL), in regional Victoria, Australia, and SABRE North at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS).

SABRE South is designed to disentangle seasonal or site-related effects from the dark matter-like modulated signal by using an active veto and muon detection system.  Ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals are immersed in a linear alkyl benzene (LAB) based liquid scintillator veto, further surrounded by passive steel and polyethylene shielding and a plastic scintillator muon veto. Significant work has been undertaken to understand and mitigate the background processes, that take into account radiation from the detector materials, from both intrinsic and cosmogenic activated processes, and to understand the performance of both the crystal and veto systems.

SUPL is a newly built facility located 1024 m underground (~2900 m water equivalent) within the Stawell Gold Mine and its construction has been completed in 2022/2023. The laboratory will house rare event physics searches, including the upcoming SABRE dark matter experiment, as well as measurement facilities to support low background physics experiments and applications such as radiobiology and quantum computing. The SABRE South commissioning is expected to occur in 2023/2024.

This talk will report the general status of the SABRE South assembly and on the design of SUPL.

2023

@Peter McNamara

ANU

EPS-HEP https://www.eps-hep2023.eu 20/8/23-25/8/23

The SABRE South Experiment at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory

The SABRE (Sodium iodide with Active Background REjection) experiment aims to detect an annual rate modulation from dark matter interactions in ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals in order to provide a model independent test of the signal observed by DAMA/LIBRA. It is made up of two separate detectors; SABRE South located at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL), in regional Victoria, Australia, and SABRE North at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS).
SABRE South is designed to disentangle seasonal or site-related effects from the dark matter-like modulated signal by using an active veto and muon detection system. Ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals are immersed in a linear alkyl benzene (LAB) based liquid scintillator veto, further surrounded by passive steel and polyethylene shielding and a plastic scintillator muon veto. Significant work has been undertaken to understand and mitigate the background processes that take into account radiation from detector materials, from both intrinsic and cosmogenic activated processes, and to understand the performance of both the crystal and veto systems.
SUPL is a newly built facility located 1024 m underground (~2900m water equivalent) within the Stawell Gold Mine and its construction was completed in mid-2022. It will house rare event physics searches, including the SABRE dark matter experiment, as well as measurement facilities to support low background physics experiments and applications such as radiobiology and quantum computing. The SABRE South commissioning is expected to occur this year.
This talk will report on the design of SUPL and the construction and commissioning of SABRE South.

2023

@Guangyong Fu

Melbourne

TIPP2023 - 04/09/23-08/09/23, Cape Town, South Africa

Crystal detector background of the SABRE South experiment

The SABRE (Sodium iodide with Active Background REjection) experiment aims to detect an annual rate modulation from dark matter interactions in ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals in order to provide a model independent test of the signal observed by DAMA/LIBRA. It is made up of two separate detectors; SABRE South located at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL), in regional Victoria, Australia, and SABRE North at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS). SABRE South is designed to disentangle seasonal or site-related effects from the dark matter-like modulated signal.
The experiment can host seven NaI(Tl) crystals, each instrumented with two R11065 PhotoMultiplier Tubes (PMTs) which are encapsulated in cylindrical copper enclosures flushed with nitrogen. These are surrounded by an active scintillator medium which provides both passive and active shielding, additionally outside this is further passive shielding to block external radiation.
To achieve the highest sensitivity possible, SABRE is working to produce NaI(Tl) crystals with extremely low background in the (1-6) keVee energy region. In this low energy region radioactive contaminants dominate the signals produced in the crystals but also noise introduced by the photomultipliers and readout system can become dominant at lower energies. Significant work has been undertaken to understand and mitigate the background processes that take into account radiation from detector materials, from both intrinsic and cosmogenic activated processes, and to understand the performance of the crystal system.
This talk will report on the results on the characterisation of and dedicated studies on understanding and reducing noise associated with the SABRE South crystal PMTs and their electronics. The results of a detailed simulation of the expected background due to radioactive contamination of the detector will also be shown.

2023

@Lachlan McKie

ANU

TIPP2023 - 04/09/23-08/09/23, Cape Town, South Africa

Trigger and data acquisition systems for SABRE South

The SABRE (Sodium-iodide with Active Background REjection) South experiment, located at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL) in Australia, aims to measure an annual modulation in dark-matter interactions using ultra-high-purity NaI(Tl) crystals. In partnership with the SABRE North effort at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS), SABRE South is designed to disentangle any seasonal or site-related effects from the dark matter-like modulated signal observed by DAMA/LIBRA in the Northern Hemisphere.
SABRE South is instrumented with 7 ultra-high-purity NaI(Tl) crystals surrounded by a liquid scintillator veto, and covered by 8 plastic scintillator muon detectors. Each NaI(Tl) crystal and muon detector is coupled to 2 photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) and a further 18 PMTs are used to detect interactions in the liquid scintillator giving a combined total of 48 channels. The data acquisition system for SABRE South utilises a number of CAEN digitisers to acquire waveform data for each of these PMTs. The trigger system is built upon a CAEN logic unit using custom FPGA logic which is extensively simulated and also tested in hardware to ensure long term reliability.
This talk will cover the design and status of the SABRE South trigger and data acquisition systems.

2023

@Mike Mews

Melbourne

ICRC 2023 - 26/08/23-03/08/23, Nagoya, Japan

The SABRE South Experiment at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory

The SABRE (Sodium iodide with Active Background REjection) experiment aims to detect an annual rate modulation from dark matter interactions in ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals in order to provide a model independent test of the signal observed by DAMA/LIBRA. It is made up of two separate detectors; SABRE South located at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL), in regional Victoria, Australia, and SABRE North at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS).

SABRE South is designed to disentangle seasonal or site-related effects from the dark matter-like modulated signal by using an active veto and muon detection system. Ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals are immersed in a linear alkyl benzene (LAB) based liquid scintillator veto, further surrounded by passive steel and polyethylene shielding and a plastic scintillator muon veto. Significant work has been undertaken to understand and mitigate the background processes that take into account radiation from detector materials, from both intrinsic and cosmogenic activated processes, and to understand the performance of both the crystal and veto systems.

SUPL is a newly built facility located 1024\,m underground (\(\sim\)2900\,m water equivalent) within the Stawell Gold Mine and its construction was completed in mid-2022. It will house rare event physics searches, including the SABRE dark matter experiment, as well as measurement facilities to support low background physics experiments and applications such as radiobiology and quantum computing. The SABRE South commissioning is expected to occur this year.

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2023

@Elisabetta Barberio

Melbourne

- 17/07/23 - 21/07/23 - Melbourne, Australia

The SABRE South Experiment at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory

The Sabre experiment aims to test the enigmatic DAMA/LIBRA dark matter like signal by exploiting two nearly twin detectors in the northern hemisphere at LNGS (SABRE-North) and the southern hemisphere at SUPL (SABRE-South). The dual locations of SABRE represents a unique feature and the possibility of reducing systematic effects due to seasonal cosmogenic background. Both projects will make use of high radio-purity NaI(Tl) detectors. Sabre South features a liquid scintillator active liquid scintillator and muon detection systems to provide in situ particle identification for background studies.

2023

@Matthew Gerathy (Deactivated)

Melbourne

PPC 2023 - 12/06/23 - 16/06/23, Daejeon, South Korea

The SABRE South Experiment at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory

The SABRE (Sodium iodide with Active Background REjection) experiment aims to detect an annual rate modulation from dark matter interactions in ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals in order to provide a model independent test of the signal observed by DAMA/LIBRA. It is made up of two separate detectors; SABRE South located at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL), in regional Victoria, Australia, and SABRE North at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS).

SABRE South is designed to disentangle seasonal or site-related effects from the dark matter-like modulated signal by using an active veto and muon detection system. Ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals are immersed in a linear alkyl benzene (LAB) based liquid scintillator veto, further surrounded by passive steel and polyethylene shielding and a plastic scintillator muon veto. Significant work has been undertaken to understand and mitigate the background processes that take into account radiation from detector materials, from both intrinsic and cosmogenic activated processes, and to understand the performance of both the crystal and veto systems.

SUPL is a newly built facility located 1024 m underground (~2900m water equivalent) within the Stawell Gold Mine and its construction was completed in mid-2022. It will house rare event physics searches, including the SABRE dark matter experiment, as well as measurement facilities to support low background physics experiments and applications such as radiobiology and quantum computing. The SABRE South commissioning is expected to occur this year.

This talk will report on the design of SUPL and the construction and commissioning of SABRE South.

2023

@Owen Stanley

Melbourne

Dark Matter 2023 - 29/05/23 - 02/06/23 - Santander, Spain

The SABRE South Experiment at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory

The SABRE (Sodium iodide with Active Background REjection) experiment aims to detect an annual rate modulation from dark matter interactions in ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals in order to provide a model independent test of the signal observed by DAMA/LIBRA. It is made up of two separate detectors; SABRE South located at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL), in regional Victoria, Australia, and SABRE North at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS).
SABRE South is designed to disentangle seasonal or site-related effects from the dark matter-like modulated signal by using an active veto and muon detection system. Ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals are immersed in a linear alkyl benzene (LAB) based liquid scintillator veto, further surrounded by passive steel and polyethylene shielding and a plastic scintillator muon veto. Significant work has been undertaken to understand and mitigate the background processes that take into account radiation from detector materials, from both intrinsic and cosmogenic activated processes, and to understand the performance of both the crystal and veto systems.
SUPL is a newly built facility located 1024 m underground (~2900m water equivalent) within the Stawell Gold Mine and its construction was completed in mid-2022. It will house rare event physics searches, including the SABRE dark matter experiment, as well as measurement facilities to support low background physics experiments and applications such as radiobiology and quantum computing. The SABRE South commissioning is expected to occur this year.
This talk will report on the design of SUPL and the construction and commissioning of SABRE South.

2023

@Lachlan James Milligan

Melbourne

ALPS 2023 - 26/03/23-31/03/23 - Obergurgl, Austria

The SABRE South Experiment at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory

The SABRE (Sodium iodide with Active Background REjection) experiment aims to detect an annual rate modulation from dark matter interactions in ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals in order to provide a model independent test of the signal observed by DAMA/LIBRA. It is made up of two separate detectors; SABRE South located at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL), in regional Victoria, Australia, and SABRE North at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS).

SABRE South is designed to disentangle seasonal or site-related effects from the dark matter-like modulated signal by using an active veto and muon detection system. Ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals are immersed in a linear alkyl benzene (LAB) based liquid scintillator veto, further surrounded by passive steel and polyethylene shielding and a plastic scintillator muon veto. Significant work has been undertaken to understand and mitigate the background processes, that take into account radiation from the detector materials, from both intrinsic and cosmogenic activated processes, and to understand the performance of both the crystal and veto systems.

SUPL is a newly built facility located 1024 m underground (~2900 m water equivalent) within the Stawell Gold Mine and its construction has been completed in mid-2022. The laboratory will house rare event physics searches, including the upcoming SABRE dark matter experiment, as well as measurement facilities to support low background physics experiments and applications such as radiobiology and quantum computing. The SABRE South commissioning is expected to occur in 2023.

This talk will report on the design of SUPL and the general status of the SABRE South assembly.

2022

@Kyle Leaver

Adelaide

AIP congress - 11/12/22-16/12/22 - Adelaide

Sensitivity of the SABRE Experiment to WIMP Signals and Seasonal Backgrounds

For over two decades the DAMA/LIBRA experiment has observed an annual modulation signal which can be interpreted as direct detection of WIMP dark matter. These results are in tension with many other dark matter direct detection experiments which have not observed any evidence for WIMP interactions. The SABRE South experiment aims to shed light on this tension by testing the results of the DAMA/LIBRA experiment by using the same NaI target material, while employing ultra-low activity materials and an advanced veto system to reduce the radioactive background.

This work examines the sensitivity of the upcoming SABRE South experiment to the annual modulation dark matter signal. We also consider the effect of a hemisphere-dependent seasonal background on direct detection experiments. This includes the scenario where the signal observed by DAMA/LIBRA is 100% seasonal background, in which case SABRE South will observe an equal magnitude, opposite phase signal. The other interesting scenario is a superposition of a real WIMP induced signal with a seasonal background, in which case SABRE could potentially observe zero overall modulation.

2022

@Irene Bolognino

Adelaide

AIP congress - 11/12/22-16/12/22 - Adelaide

The SABRE South Experiment at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory

The SABRE (Sodium iodide with Active Background REjection) experiment aims to detect an annual rate modulation from dark matter interactions in ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals in order to provide a model independent test of the signal observed by DAMA/LIBRA. It is made up of two separate detectors; SABRE South located at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL), in regional Victoria, Australia, and SABRE North at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS).

SABRE South is designed to disentangle seasonal or site-related effects from the dark matter-like modulated signal by using an active veto and muon detection system. Ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals are immersed in a linear alkyl benzene (LAB) based liquid scintillator veto, further surrounded by passive steel and polyethylene shielding and a plastic scintillator muon veto. Significant work has been undertaken to understand and mitigate the background processes, that take into account radiation from the detector materials, from both intrinsic and cosmogenic activated processes, and to understand the performance of both the crystal and veto systems.

SUPL is a newly built facility located 1024 m underground (~2900 m water equivalent) within the Stawell Gold Mine and its construction has been completed in mid-2022. The laboratory will house rare event physics searches, including the upcoming SABRE dark matter experiment, as well as measurement facilities to support low background physics experiments and applications such as radiobiology and quantum computing. The SABRE South commissioning is expected to occur in 2023.

This talk will report on the design of SUPL and the general status of the SABRE South assembly.

2022

@Ferdos Dastgiri

ANU

AIP congress - 11/12/22-16/12/22 - Adelaide

The Sodium Iodide with Active Background Rejection (SABRE) experiment is a dark matter detector that aims to provide a model independent test of the annual modulation results of the DAMA/LIBRA collaboration, attributed to dark matter in the form of WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles). SABRE will consist of dual detectors in the Northern and Southern hemispheres, individually called the SABRE North and SABRE South experiments. One of the main goals of SABRE is to use ultra-pure NaI crystal detector material, with minimal radio-contaminants, which will rival that of DAMA/LIBRA.  This talk reports on characterisation results of an ultra-pure crystal called NaI-035, produced by the commercial company, RMD based in Boston, USA. This 3.7 kg crystal has been produced using AstroGrade powder from Merck, which is some of the purest starting powder commercially available.  

In April 2022, the crystal was sent to the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso underground laboratory in Italy, for characterisation and radioactivity counting. This talk will present preliminary results of the crystal measurements, with a focus on determining ²³⁸U and ²³²Th contamination present in the crystal through identification of ²¹⁴Bi – ²¹⁴Po, and ²¹²Bi – ²¹²Po coincidences, that occur as daughter decays. 

2022

@Nathan Spinks

ANU

AIP congress - 11/12/22-16/12/22 - Adelaide

2022

@Mike Mews

Melbourne

AIP congress - 11/12/22-16/12/22 - Adelaide

A novel system for data transformation, reconstruction, and analysis for the SABRE experiement

The pyrate framework provides a dynamic, versatile, and memory-efficient approach to data format transformations, object reconstruction and data analysis in particle physics. Developed within the context of the SABRE experiment for dark matter direct detection, pyrate relies on a blackboard design pattern where algorithms are dynamically evaluated throughout a run and scheduled by a central control unit. The system intends to improve the user experience, portability and scalability of offline software systems currently available in the particle physics community, with particular attention to medium to small-scale experiments. Pyrate is implemented with the python programming language, allowing easy access to the scientific python ecosystem and commodity big data technologies. This presentation addresses the pyrate design and implementation.

2022

@Elisabetta Barberio

Melbourne

DSU2022, 05/12/2022-09/12/2022.

Sydney UNSW

Plenary (Direct invitation)

A Southern Hemisphere prospective on dark matter searches: SABRE South and SUPL

2022

@Zuzana Slavkovska

ANU

DSU2022, 05/12/2022-09/12/2022.

Sydney UNSW

Radio-impurity studies for dark matter detection with the SABRE South experiment

The aim of the SABRE (Sodium-iodide with Active Background REjection) experiment is to detect an annual rate modulation from dark matter interactions in ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals in order to provide a model independent test of the signal observed by DAMA/LIBRA. The scientific program includes the deployment of two separate detectors: SABRE South located at the Stawell Undergrond Physics Laboratory (SUPL) in Australia and SABRE North at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) in Italy. SABRE South is designed to prove that the previously detected modulated signal is produced by dark matter and not seasonal or site-related effects. Ultra-high purity of the NaI(Tl) crystals is a crucial feature of the SABRE South detector. Radiation from both intrinsic and cosmogenic processes in the detector material must be studied and quantified in order to distinguish it from dark matter events. NaI(Tl) crystals are immersed in a liquid scintillator veto, further surrounded by passive steel and polyethylene shielding and a plastic scintillator muon veto. Furthermore, the SABRE collaboration develops ultra-sensitive techniques to measure radionuclides that could mimic dark matter events. Currently the focus is being put on radionuclides potassium-40 and lead-210, which are expected to be the dominant radio-impurities in the crystal background. Chemical procedures, sample preparation as well as sample measurements via accelerator mass spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry are under development in order to understand the sensitivity of SABRE South. In this talk the current status of the radioimpurity-studies and their importance for the SABRE South experiment are conferred. The chemical methods, sample preparation as well as measurement techniques under investigation to be used to quantify the radio-impurities in the NaI(Tl) crystals are addressed.

2022

@William Melbourne

Melbourne

DSU2022, 05/12/2022-09/12/2022.

Sydney UNSW

R11065 Crystal Photomultiplier Contribution to the SABRE South Experimental Background

The DAMA experiments have detected a modulating signal compatible with dark matter for 20 years with a combined significance of 12.9~σ. A result in tension for a spin independent WIMP with null results from large noble gas experiments. This is the motivation for SABRE (Sodium iodide with Active Background Rejection) South experiment. A NaI(Tl) based replication studies of the DAMA experiment, and the Southern Hemispheres first dark matter direct detection experiment. It is designed to test the DAMA modulation results the same NaI(Tl) crystal target readout by 14 Hamamatsu R11065 photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) with a 1~keVee threshold.

This threshold corresponds to ∼13 detected photons, this makes separating genuine scintillation events from PMT noise difficult. Thus PMT noise is a significant component of the low energy background model that is difficult to include in time dependent background models as it cannot be modelled in Monte Carlo simulations. This makes accurate measurement of the low energy noise important for both understanding and minimising its contribution to the overall background.

This talk will report on the photomultiplier characterisation test bench developed for the crystal detector photomultipliers of SABRE South and preliminary results from the first test batch of PMTs. This includes studies of the single photon response, quantum efficiency, and dark noise. A specific focus is on correlated dark noise between two photomultipliers above the random coincidence rate, due to its significant contribution to the low energy background, we provide estimates of this effect also utilising studies of photomultipliers noise from underground measurements at LNGS. The results of the photomultiplier characterisation are crucial to model and understand the low energy performance of the SABRE South experiment. This is crucial to ensure that SABRE South can provide and accurate and significant measurement of the DAMA signal.

2022

@Madeleine Zurowski (Deactivated)

Melbourne

2022 CDM Annual Workshop
Wednesday 23rd November - Friday 25th November 2022

SABRE Project overview, simulation, background modelling and prospects

2022

@Zuzana Slavkovska

Melbourne

2022 CDM Annual Workshop
Wednesday 23rd November - Friday 25th November 2022

SABRE Detector performance, characterisation and calibration

Talk about SABRE detector performance and characterisation.

2022

@Matthew Gerathy (Deactivated)

Melbourne

2022 CDM Annual Workshop
Wednesday 23rd November - Friday 25th November 2022

SABRE Operations, DAQ, Slow control, Software frameworks

2022

@Federico Scutti

Swinburne

4th World Summit on Exploring the Dark Side of the Universe (EDSU2022) - 7/11/22 - 11/11/22, La Reunion, France

Status of Direct Dark Matter Searches with Scintillators

Invited review talk about direct dark matter searches

2022

@Francesco Nuti (Deactivated)

Melbourne

NuDm22, 25/09/22 - 28/09/22, Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt

The SABRE South Experiment at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory

The SABRE (Sodium iodide with Active Background REjection) experiment aims to detect an annual rate modulation from dark matter interactions in ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals in order to provide a model independent test of the signal observed by DAMA/LIBRA. It is made up of two separate detectors; SABRE South located at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL), in regional Victoria, Australia, and SABRE North at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS).

 SABRE South is designed to disentangle seasonal or site-related effects from the dark matter-like modulated signal by using an active veto and muon detection system.  Ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals are immersed in a linear alkyl benzene (LAB) based liquid scintillator veto, further surrounded by passive steel and polyethylene shielding and a plastic scintillator muon veto. Significant work has been undertaken to understand and mitigate the background processes, that take into account radiation from the detector materials, from both intrinsic and cosmogenic activated processes, and to understand the performance of both the crystal and veto systems.

 SUPL is a newly built facility located 1024 m underground (~2900 m water equivalent) within the Stawell Gold Mine and its construction will be completed by mid-2022. The laboratory will house rare event physics searches, including the upcoming SABRE dark matter experiment, as well as measurement facilities to support low background physics experiments and applications such as radiobiology and quantum computing. The SABRE South detector assembly is planned to start once SUPL is finalised, and its commissioning is expected to occur in 2023.

 This talk will report on the design of SUPL design and its current status, as well as the general status of the SABRE South assembly.

2022

@Peter McNamara

ANU

ICNFP Crete August 30, 2022 to September 11, 2022

The SABRE South Experiment at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory

he SABRE (Sodium iodide with Active Background REjection) experiment aims to detect an annual modulation signature in the rate of events observed due to dark matter interactions in ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals in order to provide a model independent test of the signal observed by DAMA/LIBRA. It is made up of two separate detectors; SABRE South located at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL), in regional Victoria, Australia, and SABRE North at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS).

SABRE South is designed to disentangle seasonal or site-related effects from the modulating dark matter-like signal. It is instrumented with ultra high purity NaI(Tl) crystals immersed in a linear alkyl benzene based liquid scintillator veto, further surrounded by passive steel and polyethylene shielding and a plastic scintillator muon veto. Significant work has been undertaken to understand and mitigate background processes, taking into account radiation from detector materials, from both intrinsic and cosmogenically activated sources as a very low background rate is essential to confirm or refute the results from DAMA/LIBRA.

SUPL is a newly constructed facility located 1024 m underground (~2900 m water equivalent) within the Stawell Gold Mine and is scheduled to be completed in June 2022. In addition to hosting the SABRE South experiment, this laboratory will house rare event physics searches, as well as measurement facilities to support low background physics experiments and applications such as radiobiology and quantum computing. The assembly of the SABRE South detector is planned to start once SUPL is finalised, with its commissioning occurring in 2023.

This talk will report on the newly built SUPL and the current status of the SABRE South experiment as well as present recent results from a detailed simulation of the SABRE South detector in order to characterise the background for dark matter searches.

2022

@Irene Bolognino

Adelaide

APPC 15, 21/08/22 - 26/08/22, online

The SABRE South Experiment at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory

The SABRE (Sodium iodide with Active Background REjection) experiment aims to detect an annual rate modulation from dark matter interactions in ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals in order to provide a model independent test of the signal observed by DAMA/LIBRA. It is made up of two separate detectors; SABRE South located at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL), in regional Victoria, Australia, and SABRE North at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS).

 SABRE South is designed to disentangle seasonal or site-related effects from the dark matter-like modulated signal by using an active veto and muon detection system.  Ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals are immersed in a linear alkyl benzene (LAB) based liquid scintillator veto, further surrounded by passive steel and polyethylene shielding and a plastic scintillator muon veto. Significant work has been undertaken to understand and mitigate the background processes, that take into account radiation from the detector materials, from both intrinsic and cosmogenic activated processes, and to understand the performance of both the crystal and veto systems.

 SUPL is a newly built facility located 1024 m underground (~2900 m water equivalent) within the Stawell Gold Mine and its construction will be completed by mid-2022. The laboratory will house rare event physics searches, including the upcoming SABRE dark matter experiment, as well as measurement facilities to support low background physics experiments and applications such as radiobiology and quantum computing. The SABRE South detector assembly is planned to start once SUPL is finalised, and its commissioning is expected to occur in 2023.

 This talk will report on the design of SUPL design and its current status, as well as the general status of the SABRE South assembly.

2022

@William Melbourne

Melbourne

TeVPA, 08/08/22 - 12/08/22, Canada

The SABRE South Experiment at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory

The SABRE (Sodium iodide with Active Background REjection) experiment aims to detect an annual rate modulation from dark matter interactions in ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals in order to provide a model independent test of the signal observed by DAMA/LIBRA. It is made up of two separate detectors; SABRE South located at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL), in regional Victoria, Australia, and SABRE North at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS).

 SABRE South is designed to disentangle seasonal or site-related effects from the dark matter-like modulated signal by using an active veto and muon detection system.  Ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals are immersed in a linear alkyl benzene (LAB) based liquid scintillator veto, further surrounded by passive steel and polyethylene shielding and a plastic scintillator muon veto. Significant work has been undertaken to understand and mitigate the background processes, that take into account radiation from the detector materials, from both intrinsic and cosmogenic activated processes, and to understand the performance of both the crystal and veto systems.

 SUPL is a newly built facility located 1024 m underground (~2900 m water equivalent) within the Stawell Gold Mine and its construction will be completed by mid-2022. The laboratory will house rare event physics searches, including the upcoming SABRE dark matter experiment, as well as measurement facilities to support low background physics experiments and applications such as radiobiology and quantum computing. The SABRE South detector assembly is planned to start once SUPL is finalised, and its commissioning is expected to occur in 2023.

 This talk will report on the design of SUPL design and its current status, as well as the general status of the SABRE South assembly.

2022

@Matthew Gerathy (Deactivated)

Melbourne

IEEE RT Conference, 1 - 5 August

The SABRE South Data Acquisition System

The SABRE (Sodium-iodide with Active Background REjection) South experiment, located at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL) in Australia, aims to measure an annual modulation in dark-matter interactions using ultra-high-purity NaI(Tl) crystals. In partnership with the SABRE North effort at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS), SABRE South is designed to disentangle any seasonal or site-related effects from the dark matter-like modulated signal observed by DAMA/LIBRA in the Northern Hemisphere.

SABRE South is instrumented with 7 ultra-high-purity NaI(Tl) crystals surrounded by a liquid scintillator veto, and covered by 8 plastic scintillator muon detectors. Each NaI(Tl) crystal and muon detector is coupled to 2 photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) and a further 18 PMTs are used to detect interactions in the liquid scintillator giving a combined total of 48 channels. The SABRE South DAQ utilises a number of CAEN digitizers to acquire data from all these channels while a CAEN logic-unit is used to trigger data acquisition. These are controlled and monitored using custom software which interfaces with EPICS. In addition, control and monitoring of the PMT voltage supplies, environmental sensors, and calibration tools have also been integrated into this system.

In this presentation, the design and status of the SABRE South DAQ will be discussed.

2022

@Madeleine Zurowski (Deactivated)

Melbourne

IDM, 18-22 July 2022, Vienna

Direct search of Dark Matter through the SABRE South experiment

The SABRE (Sodium-iodide with Active Background REjection) South experiment is a direct dark matter search detector, made of radio-pure NaI(Tl) crystals surrounded by a liquid scintillator veto. The achievement of ultra-low background rate is essential to provide a model independent test of the signal observed by the DAMA/LIBRA experiment whose claim has not been verified yet.

The SABRE South experiment will be located at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL), Australia. SUPL is the first deep underground (1024 m) laboratory in the Southern Hemisphere, which is scheduled to be operational by mid-2022. The laboratory will not only house rare event physics searches, such as SABRE, but also measurement facilities to support low background physics experiments and applications like radiobiology and quantum computing.

The SABRE South detector assembly is planned to start once SUPL is finalised, and its commissioning is expected to occur in 2023.

 The SABRE South NaI(Tl) crystal arrays will be immersed in a linear alkyl benzene (LAB) scintillator which acts as a veto by detecting signals through eighteen 8” R6912 Hamamatsu PMTs. Careful calibration studies must be set up in order to assess the PMT responses and the scintillator properties.

This talk will describe the SABRE South’s location at SUPL, its final detector layout and its current status, and the calibration system design which will be implemented to test the veto PMTs.

2022

Guangyong Fu

Melbourne

ACAMAR 2022, June 22-24 Online

Simulation of muon background at SUPL for SABRE South Experiment

The low cross section of WIMP-nucleus scattering makes detecting dark matter directly extremely difficult. To make sure a signal originates from WIMP scattering, all the backgrounds of a dark matter experiment need to be carefully studied and reduced. Among all these backgrounds, muons can mimic the annual modulation signals expected from dark matter. Therefore, the distribution of muons should be understood.

The SABRE (Sodium-iodide with Active Background REjection) project aims to directly detect the annual modulation signals of nuclear recoils which is claimed to be caused by dark matter as reported by DAMA/LIBRA. SABRE South will operate an array of ultra-low background Na(Tl) scintillation detectors with muon and liquid scintillator veto systems at SUPL (Stawell Under-ground Physics Laboratory, Australia), the first underground laboratory in the Southern Hemisphere. The 1025m-thick rock overburden can greatly suppress the muon-related backgrounds. SUPL is currently under construction and planned to be operational by end of June. Once SUPL is ready, the muon flux at SUPL will be measured. And a muon telescope consisting eight 300×40×5 cm plastic detectors will be operated to measure the underground muon angular distribution.

I will present an underground muon background simulation with CRY (Cosmic-ray Shower Library) and Geant4. In the simulation, muons are generated at sea level with CRY and incident on rocks with a thickness of 1025 m. The results of muon flux, energy distribution and angular distribution underground will be discussed, and compared with the results from other underground laboratories.

2022

Lindsey Bignell

ANU

LRT 2022, June 14-17, SURF

The Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory

The Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL) is a newly built underground facility in regional Victoria, Australia. The laboratory is be located 1024 m underground (~2900 m water equivalent) within the Stawell Gold Mine and construction will be completed in May 2022. The laboratory will house rare event physics searches, including the upcoming SABRE dark matter experiment, as well as measurement facilities to support low background physics experiments and applications such as radiobiology and quantum computing. This talk will present the an overview of the SUPL design and current status, measurements of the laboratory background environment, and aspects of the SABRE construction.

https://indico.sanfordlab.org/event/29/contributions/393/attachments/356/865/SUPL_Bignell_LRT2022.pdf

2022

@Madeleine Zurowski (Deactivated)

Melbourne

PPC 2022, June 6-10, St Louis

The SABRE South Experiment at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory

The SABRE (Sodium iodide with Active Background REjection) experiment aims to detect an annual rate modulation from dark matter interactions in ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals in order to provide a model independent test of the signal observed by DAMA/LIBRA. It is made up of two separate detectors; SABRE South located at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL), in regional Victoria, Australia, and SABRE North at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS).

SABRE South is designed to disentangle seasonal or site-related effects from the dark matter-like modulated signal by using an active veto and muon detection system. Ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals are immersed in a linear alkyl benzene (LAB) based liquid scintillator veto, further surrounded by passive steel and polyethylene shielding and a plastic scintillator muon veto. Significant work has been undertaken to understand and mitigate the background processes, that take into account radiation from the detector materials, from both intrinsic and cosmogenic activated processes, and to understand the performance of both the crystal and veto systems.

SUPL is a newly built facility located 1024 m underground (~2900 m water equivalent) within the Stawell Gold Mine and its construction will be completed by mid-2022. The laboratory will house rare event physics searches, including the upcoming SABRE dark matter experiment, as well as measurement facilities to support low background physics experiments and applications such as radiobiology and quantum computing. The SABRE South detector assembly is planned to start once SUPL is finalised, and its commissioning is expected to occur in 2023.

This talk will report on the design of SUPL design and its current status, as well as the general status of the SABRE South assembly.

2022

@Madeleine Zurowski (Deactivated)

Melbourne

VCI 2022, Feb 21-25 Online

Status of the SABRE South Experiment at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory

The SABRE (Sodium iodide with Active Background REjection) experiments aim to detect an annual rate modulation from dark matter interactions in ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals. The SABRE South experiment is located at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL), Australia, and is the first deep underground laboratory in the Southern Hemisphere. SABRE South is designed to disentangle seasonal or site-related effects from the dark matter-like modulated signal first observed by DAMA/LIBRA in the Northern Hemisphere using an active veto and muon detection system. It is a partner to the SABRE North effort at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS).

SABRE South is instrumented with ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals immersed in a linear alkyl benzene (LAB) based liquid scintillator veto, further surrounded by passive steel and polyethylene shielding and a plastic scintillator muon veto. Significant work has been undertaken to understand the experimental backgrounds and performance of the crystals. The SABRE South experiment is under construction, and will be commissioned from late 2021 to early 2022. We will present the final design of SABRE South, the status of its construction, its expected background, and its sensitivity to a DAMA/LIBRA like modulation. We will also present recent quenching factor measurements of sodium nuclear recoils in NaI(Tl) crystals measured at the Heavy Ion Accelerator Facility, and a report on the status of SUPL.

2021

@William Melbourne

Melbourne

TAUP 2021, 26 August - 3 September 2021, Online

The SABRE South Experiment at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory

The SABRE (Sodium-iodide with Active Background REjection) experiments aim to detect an annual rate modulation from dark matter interactions in ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals. The SABRE south experiment is located at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL), Australia, the first deep underground laboratory in the Southern Hemisphere, due to be completed in late 2021. SABRE South is designed to disentangle seasonal or site-related effects from the dark matter-like modulated signal first observed by DAMA/LIBRA in the Northern Hemisphere. It is a partner to the SABRE North effort at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS).

SABRE South is instrumented with ultra high purity NaI(Tl) crystals immersed in a linear alkyl benzene based liquid scintillator veto, further surrounded by passive steel and polyethylene shielding and a plastic scintillator muon veto.  The SABRE South experiment is under construction, and will be commissioned from late 2021 to early 2022. In this presentation we will present the final design of SABRE South, the status of its construction, its expected background, and its sensitivity to a DAMA/LIBRA like modulation. We will also present recent quenching factor measurements of sodium nuclear recoils in NaI(Tl) crystals measured with the ANU Heavy Ion Accelerator Facility, and a report on the status of SUPL.

Open

Recording of Talk

2021

@Francesco Nuti (Deactivated)

Melbourne

Dark Matter 2021, 13-16 September 2021, Online

The SABRE South Experiment at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory

The SABRE experiments aim to detect an annual rate modulation from dark matter interactions in ultra-high purity NaI(Tl) crystals. The SABRE South experiment is located at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL), Australia, the first deep underground laboratory in the Southern Hemisphere, due to be completed in late 2021. SABRE South is designed to disentangle seasonal or site-related effects from the dark matter-like modulated signal first observed by DAMA/LIBRA. It is a partner to the SABRE North effort at LNGS.

SABRE South is instrumented with ultra high purity NaI(Tl) crystals immersed in a liquid scintillator veto,.  The experiment is under construction and will be commissioned from late 2021 to early 2022. We will present the status of SABRE South, its expected background, and its sensitivity to a DAMA/LIBRA like modulation. We will also present recent NaI(Tl) crystal quenching factor measurements performed with the ANU HIAF, and a report on the status of SUPL.

2019

Federico Scutti

Melbourne

APPC2019, 17-22 November, Kuching, Malaysia

Status of the SABRE dark-matter experiment

The SABRE experiment aims at testing the DAMA/LIBRA annual modulation signal claimed to be dark-matter evidence. This experiment utilises an array of NaI(Tl) scintillating crystals which are ultra-low background and surrounded by a liquid scintillator volume allowing for an active veto system for background suppression. Two twin detectors will run, one in the northen emisphere at the Laboratory Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) in Italy, and another one at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL) near Melbourne in Australia. This twin detector setup will allow for a better understanding of seasonal effects possibly correlated with the observed modulation. In this talk, I will review the status of the experiment, with particular attention to the development of the low background crystals, geometry optimization for the detector setup and development of the data-acquisition system.

2019

Francesco Nuti

Melbourne

ICNFP2019, 26 August 2019, Crete, Greece

Testing Dark Matter models and Quantum Foundations with the SABRE experiment

2019

@lindsey.bignell

ANU

CoSSURF 2019, 16 May 2019, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, USA

The SABRE Dark Matter Experiment
(invited talk)

http://www.phy.sdsmt.edu/CoSSURF/talks/CoSSURF2019 BIGNELL Sabre.pdf

2018

@lindsey.bignell

ANU

IDM 2018, 23 Jul 2018, Brown U., Providence, USA

Dark matter annual modulation with SABRE

The interaction rate of hypothesized dark matter particles in an Earth bound detector is expected to undergo an annual modulation due to the planet’s orbital motion. The DAMA experiment has observed such a modulation with high significance in an array of scintillating NaI(Tl) crystals, however this results demands a model independent verification.
SABRE aims to perform a higher sensitivity measurement with NaI(Tl) crystals able to clarify the claim, but also to investigate the nature of dark matter interaction and the characteristics of the halo. SABRE will have a lower background in the signal region and a lower energy threshold thanks to high purity crystals and a 4π active background rejection with liquid scintillator. We present here the progresses ongoing in the construction of the Proof-of-Principle phase at LNGS (Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Italy), our future design including a pair of twin detectors at LNGS and SUPL (Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory, Australia) and we detail the background and the sensitivity to dark matter interaction that we anticipate.

2018

Francesco Nuti

Melbourne

DSU2018, 15 June 2018, Annecy, France

Search for Dark Matter with the SABRE experiment

2017

Francesco Nuti

Melbourne

LRT2017, 24 May 2017, Seoul, South Korea

Status of the SABRE experiment and background characterization

2016

Phillip Urquijo

Melbourne

Cosmo, 9 Aug 2016, Ann Arbor, USA

The SABRE Dark Matter Experiment: 


A pair of sodium iodide detectors located in Italy and Australia