219 research outputs found
Interferometry with few photons
Optical phase determination is an important and established tool in diverse
fields such as astronomy, biology, or quantum optics. There is increasing
interest in using a lower number of total photons. However, different noise
sources, such as electronic readout noise in the detector, and shot noise,
hamper the phase estimation in regimes of very low illumination. Here we report
a study on how the quality of phase determination is affected by these two
sources of noise. To that end, we experimentally reconstruct different
wavefronts by means of a point diffraction interferometer for different mean
intensities of illumination, up to . Our interferometer
features a Skipper-CCD sensor, which allows us to reduce the readout noise
arbitrarily, thus enabling us to separate the effect of these two sources of
noise. For two cases of interest: a spatial qudit encoding phase, consisting of
d = 6 uniform phase regions, and a more general continuous phase, we see that
reducing the readout noise leads to a clear improvement in the quality of
reconstruction. This can be explained by a simple noise model that allows us to
predict the expected fidelity of reconstruction and shows excellent agreement
with the measurements
First results from a multiplexed and massive instrument with sub-electron noise Skipper-CCDs
We present a new instrument composed of a large number of sub-electron noise
Skipper-CCDs operated with a two stage analog multiplexed readout scheme
suitable for scaling to thousands of channels. New, thick, Mpix sensors,
from a new foundry, are glued into a Multi-Chip Module (MCM) printed circuit
board on a ceramic substrate which has 16 sensors each. The instrument, that
can hold up-to 16 MCMs, a total of 256 Skipper-CCD sensors (called a
Super-Module with grams of active mass and Mpix), is part
of the RD effort of the OSCURA experiment which will have
super-modules. Experimental results with MCMs and Skipper-CCDs
sensors are presented in this paper. This is already the largest ever build
instrument with single electron sensitivity CCDs using nondestructive readout,
both, in terms of active mass and number of channels.Comment: Corrected minor typo
Deployment and performance of a Low-Energy-Threshold Skipper-CCD inside a nuclear reactor
Charge Coupled Devices (CCD) are used for reactor neutrino experiments and
already shown their potential in constraining new physics models. The prospect
of a Skipper-CCD experiment looking for standard and beyond standard model
physics (BSM) in a nuclear reactor has been recently evaluated for different
benchmark scenarios. Here we report the installation of the first 2 g
Skipper-CCD inside the containment building of a 2 GW nuclear power
plant, positioned 12 meters from the center of the reactor core. We discuss the
challenges involved in the commissioning of the detector and present data
acquired during reactor ON and reactor OFF periods, with the detector operating
with a sub-electron readout noise of 0.17 e-. The ongoing efforts to improve
sensitivities to CEvNS and BSM interaction are also discussed.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, 1 tabl
Results of the engineering run of the coherent neutrino nucleus interaction experiment (CONNIE)
The CONNIE detector prototype is operating at a distance of 30 m from the core of a 3.8 GWth nuclear reactor with the goal of establishing Charge-Coupled Devices (CCD) as a new technology for the detection of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering. We report on the results of the engineering run with an active mass of 4 g of silicon. The CCD array is described, and the performance observed during the first year is discussed. A compact passive shield was deployed around the detector, producing an order of magnitude reduction in the background rate. The remaining background observed during the run was stable, and dominated by internal contamination in the detector packaging materials. The in-situ calibration of the detector using X-ray lines from fluorescence demonstrates good stability of the readout system. The event rates with the reactor ON and OFF are compared, and no excess is observed coming from nuclear fission at the power plant. The upper limit for the neutrino event rate is set two orders of magnitude above the expectations for the standard model. The results demonstrate the cryogenic CCD-based detector can be remotely operated at the reactor site with stable noise below2 e RMS and stable background rates. The success of the engineering test provides a clear path for the upgraded 100 g detector to be deployed during 2016.Fil: Aguilar Arevalo, A.. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; MéxicoFil: Bertou, Xavier Pierre Louis. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica; Argentina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Fundación José A. Balseiro; ArgentinaFil: Bonifazi, C.. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Butner, M.. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory; Estados UnidosFil: Cancelo, G.. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory; Estados UnidosFil: Castañeda Vazquez, A.. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; MéxicoFil: Cervantes Vergara, B.. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; MéxicoFil: Chavez, C. R.. Universidad Nacional de Asunción; ParaguayFil: Da Motta, H.. Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas; BrasilFil: D'Olivo, J. C.. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; MéxicoFil: Dos Anjos, J.. Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas; BrasilFil: Estrada, J.. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory; Estados UnidosFil: Fernández Moroni, Guillermo. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Ingeniería Eléctrica y de Computadoras. Instituto ; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Ford, R.. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory; Estados UnidosFil: Foguel, A.. Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas; Brasil. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; BrasilFil: Hernandez Torres, K. P.. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; MéxicoFil: Izraelevitch, F.. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory; Estados UnidosFil: Kavner, A.. University of Michigan; Estados UnidosFil: Kilminster, B.. Universitat Zurich; SuizaFil: Kuk, K.. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory; Estados UnidosFil: Lima Jr, H. P.. Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas; BrasilFil: Makler, M.. Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas; BrasilFil: Molina, J.. Universidad Nacional de Asunción; ParaguayFil: Moreno Granados, G.. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; MéxicoFil: Moro, Juan Manuel. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Ingeniería; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Paolini, Eduardo Emilio. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Ingeniería Eléctrica y de Computadoras. Instituto ; ArgentinaFil: Sofo Haro, Miguel Francisco. Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica. Gerencia D/area de Energia Nuclear; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Tiffenberg, Javier Sebastian. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory; Estados Unidos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Trillaud, F.. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; MéxicoFil: Wagner, S.. Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas; Brasil. Pontificia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul; Brasi
Search for low-mass WIMPs in a 0.6 kg day exposure of the DAMIC experiment at SNOLAB
We present results of a dark matter search performed with a 0.6 kg day
exposure of the DAMIC experiment at the SNOLAB underground laboratory. We
measure the energy spectrum of ionization events in the bulk silicon of
charge-coupled devices down to a signal of 60 eV electron equivalent. The data
are consistent with radiogenic backgrounds, and constraints on the
spin-independent WIMP-nucleon elastic-scattering cross section are accordingly
placed. A region of parameter space relevant to the potential signal from the
CDMS-II Si experiment is excluded using the same target for the first time.
This result obtained with a limited exposure demonstrates the potential to
explore the low-mass WIMP region (<10 GeV/) of the upcoming DAMIC100, a
100 g detector currently being installed in SNOLAB.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figure
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