Feasibility study of a Superheated Superconducting Granule detector for cold dark matter search

Abstract

The presented results are part of a feasibility study of a Super- heated Superconducting Granule (SSG) device for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) detection. The sensitivity of SSG to nuclear recoils has been explored irradiating SSG detectors with a 70MeV neutron beam proving that energy thresholds of $\sim$1keV can be reached in 30$\mu$m Zn and 17$\mu$m Sn granules. The successful irradiation experiments with neutrons encouraged us to plan a prototype SSG dark matter detector. The status of the project will be presented and the expected counting rate for spin-indepen- dent WIMP interactions in SSG detectors will be discussed.

LaTex format, Preprint Bu-He 93/7 (University of Berne, Switzerland), three figures available upon request by [email protected] or [email protected]