First Measurement of the Nuclear-Recoil Ionization Yield in Silicon at 100 eV

M F Albakry; I Alkhatib; D Alonso; D W P Amaral; T Aralis; T Aramaki; I J Arnquist; I Ataee Langroudy; E Azadbakht; S Banik; C Bathurst; R Bhattacharyya; P L Brink; R Bunker; B Cabrera; R Calkins; R A Cameron; C Cartaro; D G Cerdeño; Y-Y Chang; M Chaudhuri; R Chen; N Chott; J Cooley; H Coombes; J Corbett; P Cushman; S Das; F De Brienne; M Rios; S Dharani; M L di Vacri; M D Diamond; M Elwan; E Fascione; E Figueroa-Feliciano; C W Fink; K Fouts; M Fritts; G Gerbier; R Germond; M Ghaith; S R Golwala; J Hall; S A S Harms; N Hassan; B A Hines; Z Hong; E W Hoppe; L Hsu; M E Huber; V Iyer; V K S Kashyap; M H Kelsey; A Kubik; N A Kurinsky; M Lee; M Litke; J Liu; Y Liu; B Loer; E Lopez Asamar; P Lukens; D B MacFarlane; R Mahapatra; N Mast; A J Mayer; H Meyer Zu Theenhausen; É Michaud; E Michielin; N Mirabolfathi; B Mohanty; B Nebolsky; J Nelson; H Neog; V Novati; J L Orrell; M D Osborne; S M Oser; W A Page; L Pandey; S Pandey; R Partridge; D S Pedreros; L Perna; R Podviianiuk; F Ponce; S Poudel; A Pradeep; M Pyle; W Rau; E Reid; R Ren; T Reynolds; E Tanner; A Roberts; A E Robinson; T Saab; D Sadek; B Sadoulet; S P Sahoo; I Saikia; J Sander; A Sattari; B Schmidt; R W Schnee; S Scorza; B Serfass; S S Poudel; D J Sincavage; P Sinervo; Z Speaks; J Street; H Sun; G D Terry; F K Thasrawala; D Toback; R Underwood; S Verma; A N Villano; B von Krosigk; S L Watkins; O Wen; Z Williams; M J Wilson; J Winchell; K Wykoff; S Yellin; B A Young; T C Yu; B Zatschler; S Zatschler; A Zaytsev; A Zeolla; E Zhang; L Zheng; Y Zheng; A Zuniga; P An; P S Barbeau; S C Hedges; L Li; J Runge; SuperCDMS Collaboration

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.091801

First Measurement of the Nuclear-Recoil Ionization Yield in Silicon at 100 eV

Phys Rev Lett. 2023 Sep 1;131(9):091801. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.091801.

Authors

M F Albakry^{1

2}, I Alkhatib³, D Alonso^{4

5}, D W P Amaral⁶, T Aralis⁷, T Aramaki⁸, I J Arnquist⁹, I Ataee Langroudy¹⁰, E Azadbakht¹⁰, S Banik¹¹, C Bathurst¹², R Bhattacharyya¹⁰, P L Brink¹³, R Bunker⁹, B Cabrera¹⁴, R Calkins¹⁵, R A Cameron¹³, C Cartaro¹³, D G Cerdeño^{4

5}, Y-Y Chang⁷, M Chaudhuri¹¹, R Chen¹⁶, N Chott¹⁷, J Cooley^{15

18}, H Coombes¹², J Corbett¹⁹, P Cushman²⁰, S Das¹¹, F De Brienne²¹, M Rios^{4

5}, S Dharani^{22

23}, M L di Vacri⁹, M D Diamond³, M Elwan¹², E Fascione^{2

19}, E Figueroa-Feliciano¹⁶, C W Fink²⁴, K Fouts¹³, M Fritts²⁰, G Gerbier¹⁹, R Germond^{2

19}, M Ghaith²⁵, S R Golwala⁷, J Hall^{18

26}, S A S Harms³, N Hassan²¹, B A Hines²⁷, Z Hong³, E W Hoppe⁹, L Hsu²⁸, M E Huber^{27

29}, V Iyer³, V K S Kashyap¹¹, M H Kelsey¹⁰, A Kubik¹⁸, N A Kurinsky¹³, M Lee¹⁰, M Litke¹⁵, J Liu¹⁵, Y Liu^{1

2}, B Loer⁹, E Lopez Asamar^{4

5}, P Lukens²⁸, D B MacFarlane¹³, R Mahapatra¹⁰, N Mast²⁰, A J Mayer², H Meyer Zu Theenhausen²², É Michaud²¹, E Michielin^{1

2}, N Mirabolfathi¹⁰, B Mohanty¹¹, B Nebolsky¹⁶, J Nelson²⁰, H Neog²⁰, V Novati¹⁶, J L Orrell⁹, M D Osborne¹⁰, S M Oser^{1

2}, W A Page²⁴, L Pandey³⁰, S Pandey²⁰, R Partridge¹³, D S Pedreros²¹, L Perna³, R Podviianiuk³⁰, F Ponce⁹, S Poudel³⁰, A Pradeep^{1

2}, M Pyle^{24

31}, W Rau², E Reid⁶, R Ren¹⁶, T Reynolds³, E Tanner²⁰, A Roberts²⁷, A E Robinson²¹, T Saab¹², D Sadek¹², B Sadoulet^{24

31}, S P Sahoo¹⁰, I Saikia¹⁵, J Sander³⁰, A Sattari³, B Schmidt¹⁶, R W Schnee¹⁷, S Scorza^{18

26}, B Serfass²⁴, S S Poudel⁹, D J Sincavage²⁰, P Sinervo³, Z Speaks¹², J Street¹⁷, H Sun¹², G D Terry³⁰, F K Thasrawala²³, D Toback¹⁰, R Underwood^{2

19}, S Verma¹⁰, A N Villano²⁷, B von Krosigk²², S L Watkins²⁴, O Wen⁷, Z Williams²⁰, M J Wilson²², J Winchell¹⁰, K Wykoff¹⁷, S Yellin¹⁴, B A Young³², T C Yu¹³, B Zatschler³, S Zatschler³, A Zaytsev²², A Zeolla¹², E Zhang³, L Zheng¹⁰, Y Zheng¹⁶, A Zuniga³, P An³³, P S Barbeau³³, S C Hedges³⁴, L Li³³, J Runge³³; SuperCDMS Collaboration

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z1, Canada.
² TRIUMF, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 2A3, Canada.
³ Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A7, Canada.
⁴ Instituto de Física Teórica UAM/CSIC, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain.
⁵ Instituto de Física Teórica UAM-CSIC, Campus de Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain.
⁶ Department of Physics, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom.
⁷ Division of Physics, Mathematics, & Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA.
⁸ Department of Physics, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
⁹ Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Physics and Astronomy, and the Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA.
¹¹ School of Physical Sciences, National Institute of Science Education and Research, HBNI, Jatni - 752050, India.
¹² Department of Physics, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA.
¹³ SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory/Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
¹⁵ Department of Physics, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275, USA.
¹⁶ Department of Physics & Astronomy, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208-3112, USA.
¹⁷ Department of Physics, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, South Dakota 57701, USA.
¹⁸ SNOLAB, Creighton Mine #9, 1039 Regional Road 24, Sudbury, Ontario P3Y 1N2, Canada.
¹⁹ Department of Physics, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada.
²⁰ School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA.
²¹ Département de Physique, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec H3C 3J7, Canada.
²² Institute for Astroparticle Physics (IAP), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany.
²³ Institut für Experimentalphysik, Universität Hamburg, 22761 Hamburg, Germany.
²⁴ Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
²⁵ College of Natural and Health Sciences, Zayed University, Dubai, 19282, United Arab Emirates.
²⁶ Laurentian University, Department of Physics, 935 Ramsey Lake Road, Sudbury, Ontario P3E 2C6, Canada.
²⁷ Department of Physics, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, Colorado 80217, USA.
²⁸ Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, Illinois 60510, USA.
²⁹ Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, Colorado 80217, USA.
³⁰ Department of Physics, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, South Dakota 57069, USA.
³¹ Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
³² Department of Physics, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, California 95053, USA.
³³ Department of Physics, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA.
³⁴ Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550, USA.

PMID: 37721818
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.091801

Abstract

We measured the nuclear-recoil ionization yield in silicon with a cryogenic phonon-sensitive gram-scale detector. Neutrons from a monoenergetic beam scatter off of the silicon nuclei at angles corresponding to energy depositions from 4 keV down to 100 eV, the lowest energy probed so far. The results show no sign of an ionization production threshold above 100 eV. These results call for further investigation of the ionization yield theory and a comprehensive determination of the detector response function at energies below the keV scale.