Sander Zandbergen with Tom Shutt

Reflectivity Measurements of Critical Materials for the LUX Dark Matter Experiment

The key component of the Large Underground Xenon (LUX) detector is measuring scintillation light from liquid xenon in order to detect particle dark matter in the form of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs).  Optimal performance requires highly efficient transportation of photons to the photomultiplier tubes (PMTs), so all other materials must be highly reflective.  The two prime materials are a large surface of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and some metal for electric field producing grids. I will use the group’s prototype liquid xenon detector in situ, with liquid xenon scintillation light at a vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) wavelength of 175 nm, to take measurements from samples of several critical LUX components.  These measurements will be compared to a light collection Monte Carlo simulation, and reflectivity values will be extracted. This will allow for proper selection of materials and full understanding of LUX light collection.