Digital control of force microscope cantilevers using a field programmable gate array

This report describes a cantilever controller for magnetic resonance force microscopy (MRFM) based on a field programmable gate array (FPGA), along with the hardware and software used to integrate the controller into an experiment. The controller is assembled from a low-cost commercially available software defined radio (SDR) device and libraries of open-source software. The controller includes a digital filter comprising two cascaded second-order sections ("biquads"), which together can implement transfer functions for optimal cantilever controllers. An appendix in this report shows how to calculate filter coefficients for an optimal controller from measured cantilever characteristics. The controller also includes an input multiplexer and adder used in calibration protocols. Filter coefficients and multiplexer settings can be set and adjusted by control software while an experiment is running. The input is sampled at 64 MHz; the sampling frequency in the filters can be divided down under software control to achieve a good match with filter characterisics. Data reported here were sampled at 500 kHz, chosen for acoustic cantilevers with resonant frequencies near 8 kHz. Inputs are digitized with 12 bits resolution, outputs with 14 bits. The experiment software is organized as a client and server to make it easy to adapt the controller to different experiments. The server encapusulates the details of controller hardware organization, connection technology, filter architecture, and number representation. The same server could be used in any experiment, while a different client encodes the particulars of each experiment.Comment: submitted to Review of Scientific Instrument

Comment on "On the subtleties of searching for dark matter with liquid xenon detectors"

In a recent manuscript (arXiv:1208.5046) Peter Sorensen claims that XENON100's upper limits on spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross sections for WIMP masses below 10 GeV "may be understated by one order of magnitude or more". Having performed a similar, though more detailed analysis prior to the submission of our new result (arXiv:1207.5988), we do not confirm these findings. We point out the rationale for not considering the described effect in our final analysis and list several potential problems with his study.Comment: 3 pages, no figure

Lowering the radioactivity of the photomultiplier tubes for the XENON1T dark matter experiment

The low-background, VUV-sensitive 3-inch diameter photomultiplier tube R11410 has been developed by Hamamatsu for dark matter direct detection experiments using liquid xenon as the target material. We present the results from the joint effort between the XENON collaboration and the Hamamatsu company to produce a highly radio-pure photosensor (version R11410-21) for the XENON1T dark matter experiment. After introducing the photosensor and its components, we show the methods and results of the radioactive contamination measurements of the individual materials employed in the photomultiplier production. We then discuss the adopted strategies to reduce the radioactivity of the various PMT versions. Finally, we detail the results from screening 216 tubes with ultra-low background germanium detectors, as well as their implications for the expected electronic and nuclear recoil background of the XENON1T experiment.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

Search for Event Rate Modulation in XENON100 Electronic Recoil Data

We have searched for periodic variations of the electronic recoil event rate in the (2-6) keV energy range recorded between February 2011 and March 2012 with the XENON100 detector, adding up to 224.6 live days in total. Following a detailed study to establish the stability of the detector and its background contributions during this run, we performed an un-binned profile likelihood analysis to identify any periodicity up to 500 days. We find a global significance of less than 1 sigma for all periods suggesting no statistically significant modulation in the data. While the local significance for an annual modulation is 2.8 sigma, the analysis of a multiple-scatter control sample and the phase of the modulation disfavor a dark matter interpretation. The DAMA/LIBRA annual modulation interpreted as a dark matter signature with axial-vector coupling of WIMPs to electrons is excluded at 4.8 sigma.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Removing krypton from xenon by cryogenic distillation to the ppq level

The XENON1T experiment aims for the direct detection of dark matter in a cryostat filled with 3.3 tons of liquid xenon. In order to achieve the desired sensitivity, the background induced by radioactive decays inside the detector has to be sufficiently low. One major contributor is the $\beta$-emitter $^{85}$Kr which is an intrinsic contamination of the xenon. For the XENON1T experiment a concentration of natural krypton in xenon $\rm{^{nat}}$Kr/Xe < 200 ppq (parts per quadrillion, 1 ppq = 10$^{-15}$ mol/mol) is required. In this work, the design of a novel cryogenic distillation column using the common McCabe-Thiele approach is described. The system demonstrated a krypton reduction factor of 6.4$\cdot$10$^5$ with thermodynamic stability at process speeds above 3 kg/h. The resulting concentration of $\rm{^{nat}}$Kr/Xe < 26 ppq is the lowest ever achieved, almost one order of magnitude below the requirements for XENON1T and even sufficient for future dark matter experiments using liquid xenon, such as XENONnT and DARWIN

Search for Two-Neutrino Double Electron Capture of 124^{124}Xe with XENON100

Two-neutrino double electron capture is a rare nuclear decay where two electrons are simultaneously captured from the atomic shell. For $^{124}$Xe this process has not yet been observed and its detection would provide a new reference for nuclear matrix element calculations. We have conducted a search for two-neutrino double electron capture from the K-shell of $^{124}$Xe using 7636 kg$\cdot$d of data from the XENON100 dark matter detector. Using a Bayesian analysis we observed no significant excess above background, leading to a lower 90 % credibility limit on the half-life $T_{1/2}>6.5\times10^{20}$ yr. We also evaluated the sensitivity of the XENON1T experiment, which is currently being commissioned, and find a sensitivity of $T_{1/2}>6.1\times10^{22}$ yr after an exposure of 2 t$\cdot$yr.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

ULF geomagnetic pulsations at different latitudes in Antarctica

We present a study aimed to characterize the ULF (1–100 mHz) geomagnetic pulsation activity in the polar cap at different latitudes. We used magnetic measurements obtained through 2005–2007 in Antarctica, at Dome C (89&amp;deg; S corrected geomagnetic latitude) and at Terra Nova Bay (80&amp;deg; S corrected geomagnetic latitude). The results indicate a solar wind control of the wave activity, more important at larger distances from the cusp, as well as a significant role of the local ionospheric conditions. The different position of the two stations, with respect to the cusp and closed field lines, is responsible for the observed different pulsation characteristics. At Terra Nova Bay, due to the approaching of the station to the cusp and closed field lines in the daytime, the ULF power is characterized by a maximum around noon; daytime pulsation events in the Pc5 frequency band are related to the fundamental field line resonances occurring at lower latitudes, while higher harmonics of the fundamental may account for the characteristics of Pc3–4 pulsations. In the nighttime, at Pc3 frequencies, the results suggest waves propagating sunward, possibly due to the transmission of upstream waves from the magnetosheath via the magnetotail lobes. At Dome C, near the geomagnetic pole and very far from closed field lines, the ULF power in any frequency band only shows an enhancement in the postmidnight sector, more pronounced for Pc3 pulsations. The ULF activity appears to be driven by processes occurring in the magnetotail: in particular, nighttime Pc3 pulsation events may be originated from upstream wave penetration through the magnetotail lobes

DARWIN: towards the ultimate dark matter detector

DARk matter WImp search with liquid xenoN (DARWIN) will be an experiment forthe direct detection of dark matter using a multi-ton liquid xenon timeprojection chamber at its core. Its primary goal will be to explore theexperimentally accessible parameter space for Weakly Interacting MassiveParticles (WIMPs) in a wide mass-range, until neutrino interactions with thetarget become an irreducible background. The prompt scintillation light and thecharge signals induced by particle interactions in the xenon will be observedby VUV sensitive, ultra-low background photosensors. Besides its excellentsensitivity to WIMPs above a mass of 5 GeV/c2, such a detector with its largemass, low-energy threshold and ultra-low background level will also besensitive to other rare interactions. It will search for solar axions, galacticaxion-like particles and the neutrinoless double-beta decay of 136-Xe, as wellas measure the low-energy solar neutrino flux with <1% precision, observecoherent neutrino-nucleus interactions, and detect galactic supernovae. Wepresent the concept of the DARWIN detector and discuss its physics reach, themain sources of backgrounds and the ongoing detector design and R&D efforts