Composite CaWO4 Detectors for the CRESST-II Experiment

Understand

CRESST-II, standing for Cryogenic Rare Events Search with Superconducting Thermometers phase II, is an experiment searching for Dark Matter.

• In the LNGS facility in Gran Sasso, Italy, a cryogenic detector setup is operated in order to detect WIMPs by elastic scattering off nuclei, generating phononic lattice excitations and scintillation light.
• The thermometers used in the experiment consist of a tungsten thin-film structure evaporated onto the CaWO4 absorber crystal.
• The process of evaporation causes a decrease in the scintillation light output.