Cryogenic Dark Matter Search

A leading hypothesis on the nature of Dark Matter is that it is comprised of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles, or WIMPs, that were produced moments after the Big Bang. If WIMPs are the dark matter, then their presence in our galaxy may be detectable via scattering from atomic nuclei in detectors located deep underground.

 The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) Collaboration, supported jointly by DOE and NSF, has pioneered the use of low-temperature phonon-mediated Ge detectors to detect the rare scattering of WIMPs on nuclei and distinguish them from backgrounds..

 CDMS is currently taking data in the Soudan Underground Laboratory in Minnesota using ~10 kg of Ge crystals. A larger scale experiment with an order of magnitude more Ge is being planned for SNOLAB in Sudbury, Canada.

Click the images below to see a larger version

WIMP interaction in a Ge crystal

Planned CDMS cavern in SNOLAB