Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment Calibration

Author: Kole Pickner, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Co-Author: Landon Marzahn, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Mentor: Dr. David Martinez Caicedo, Department of Physics

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a worldwide, collaborative effort to understand more about the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe. It will be constructed at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) near Lead, South Dakota. The experiment is intended to be operated for 20 years and involves a team of over 1000 scientists with the goal of understanding more about the origins of matter and potentially finding a unified theory of matter and energy.

Fermilab, a Department of Energy facility near Chicago, will use its particle accelerator to produce neutrinos that will travel underground (as neutrinos are able to pass through matter). At SURF, a system will be developed to detect these particles and learn more about them. It is composed of a large volume of cold liquid argon divided by two sets of high-voltage cathode and anode planes.

A team of SDSM&T students and faculty is working with Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) to redesign a network of light diffusers that will calibrate DUNE’s light collection system. The diffusers take in a fiber optic cable, which reflects light off of a mirror and through two crystal plates to diffuse light from the cathode plane assemblies to the anode plane assemblies where the light collection system will be installed.

Significant results of the redesign include a comprehensive plan for routing the many fiber optics through the system, an easy method of connecting the fiber optics to the diffuser, designing the diffusers for manufacturability using various materials, and testing the thermal effects of extremely cold liquids on fiber optics and diffuser designs.