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

Abstract

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.

arXiv comment14 pages + title and references, 13 figures, and 6 table

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Cited by in corpus (2)

• Search for low-mass electron-recoil dark matter using a single-charge sensitive SuperCDMS-HVeV Detector
• Performance of a SuperCDMS HVeV Detector with Sub-eV Energy Resolution and Single Charge-sensitivity