SuperCDMS SNOLAB Operations

Northwestern will provide support to the SuperCDMS SNOLAB commissioning effort in Years One and Two of the proposal. This involves travel to the SNOLAB site to commission the cryostat and detectors of the experiment, peform initial tests of the system, and begin operations of the experiment. All collaborating institutions take shifts at SNOLAB to support this experiment. In Years Two and Three, Northwestern will lead the effort for the Detector Response and Characterization Program at the NEXUS facility, and Prof. Figueroa Feliciano will act as the level 2 manager for this WBS element. This work takes place in the MINOS tunnel at Fermilab, in the NEXUS facility. All work is done at this site, including preparing the detectors for cooldown, assembling the system, cooling down the refrigerator and taking data with various calibration sources including neutrons, gammas, and betas. In Year Three, Northwestern will also support the science operations with shifts at the SNOLAB site. This involves shifts at SNOLAB to operate and do quality control checks on the data as it is being taken, as well as participate in regular maintenance and calibration tasks at the experiment runs.