Dark matter search project PICO-LON

Abstract

The PICO-LON project aims at search for cold dark matter by means of highly radio-pure and large volume NaI(Tl) scintillator. The NaI powder was purifed by chemical processing to remove lead isotopes and selecting a high purity graphite crucible. The concentrations of radioactive impurities of ${}^{226}$Ra and ${}^{228}$Th were effectively reduced to 58$\pm$4 $\mu$Bq/kg and 1.5$\pm$1.9 $\mu$Bq/kg, respectively. It should be remarked that the concentration of ${}^{210}$Pb, which is crucial for the sensitivity to dark matter, was reduced to 24$\pm$2 $\mu$Bq/kg. The total background rate at 10 keVee was as low as 8 keV${}^{-1}$kg${}^{-1}$day${}^{-1}$, which was sufficiently low to search for dark matter. Further purification of NaI(Tl) ingot and future prospect of PICO-LON project is discussed.

Submitted to Proceedings of TAUP 2015

References in corpus (4)

• Final model independent result of DAMA/LIBRA-phase1
• The DAMA/LIBRA apparatus
• Tests on NaI(Tl) crystals for WIMP search at the Yangyang Underground Laboratory
• First data from DM-Ice17

Cited by in corpus (18)

• Initial Performance of the COSINE-100 Experiment
• An experiment to search for dark matter interactions using sodium iodide detectors
• Dark Matter implications of DAMA/LIBRA-phase2 results
• On the direct detection of multi-component dark matter: sensitivity studies and parameter estimation
• Model-independent comparison of annual modulation and total rate with direct detection experiments
• Revisiting Dark Matter Freeze-in and Freeze-out through Phase-Space Distribution
• ANAIS-112 sensitivity in the search for dark matter annual modulation
• Time-dependent rate of multicomponent dark matter: Reproducing the DAMA/LIBRA phase-2 results
• Study of cosmogenic radionuclides in the COSINE-100 NaI(Tl) detectors
• ANAIS-112 status: two years results on annual modulation
• Limits on Interactions between Weakly Interacting Massive Particles and Nucleons Obtained with NaI(Tl) crystal Detectors
• Deep-underground dark matter search with a COSINUS detector prototype
• Depth profile study of ${}^{210}$Pb in the surface of an NaI(Tl) crystal
• Simulation-based design study for the passive shielding of the COSINUS dark matter experiment
• Prospect of undoped inorganic crystals at 77 Kelvin for low-mass dark matter search at Spallation Neutron Source
• Incoherent solar-neutrino scattering off the stable Tl-isotopes
• Insights into Dark Matter Direct Detection Experiments: Decision Trees versus Deep Learning
• Water Cherenkov muon veto for the COSINUS experiment: design and simulation optimization