Experiment reaches critical temperature to unlock search for dark matter
The operating system reached its coldest operating temperature, hundreds of times colder than outer space
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (03/18/2026) — University of Minnesota Twin Cities researchers working on the Super Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (SuperCDMS) experiment are part of a team who successfully cooled the experiment to its base temperature—the temperature required for the superconducting detectors to become operational, which is hundreds of times colder than outer space.
Reaching base temperature marks a major transition for SuperCDMS, from construction and installation to commissioning and science operations. For SuperCDMS, that temperature is thousandths of a degree above absolute zero, where atomic and molecular motion ceases.
The experiment is designed to detect dark matter particles—mysterious particles that make up 85 percent of all matter in the Universe—that are already passing through Earth. Dark matter remains strange and illusive but tremendously important to our understanding of nature, from the most fundamental particles to origins and evolution of the Universe.
“Getting to base temperature is a major milestone in a years-long campaign to build a low-background facility capable of housing our sensitive cryogenic solid state detectors,” said Priscilla Cushman, a professor in the University of Minnesota School of Physics and Astronomy and the Spokesperson of SuperCDMS. “At these extremely low temperatures, our installed detectors can now scan a whole new region of parameter space where the lightest dark matter particles may be lurking.”
The University of Minnesota team designed, procured, and assembled the low background shield that protects the detectors from trace radioactivity and neutrons produced by high-energy cosmic rays in the cavern walls. The four-meter tall, four-meter-diameter cylindrical enclosure is made of layers of ultra-pure lead to stop the gammas and high-density polyethylene to moderate the neutrons.
In addition to major roles in the installation and cooldown of the experiment, University of Minnesota researchers have developed new reconstruction algorithms and analysis techniques designed to rapidly extract dark matter signals from the data that will be flowing in a few months. The group is at the forefront of the science effort, with the help of School of Physics and Astronomy Assistant Professor Yan Liu, who is the Analysis Working Group Chair for the experiment.
The SuperCDMS experiment is sited at SNOLAB, a research facility located roughly 6,800 feet underground in an active nickel mine near Sudbury, Ontario. Buried at this depth, the experiment is protected from cosmic rays and other background particles that could drown out the faint signals scientists are trying to observe.
With base temperature achieved, the collaboration will move into detector commissioning, a months-long process of turning on, calibrating and optimizing each detector channel. Beyond dark matter, SuperCDMS will allow scientists to study rare isotopes, probe energies no one has measured before and maybe uncover entirely new kinds of particle interactions.
The SuperCDMS experiment is a joint project of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
In addition to Cushman and Liu, the University of Minnesota team includes postdoctoral researchers Shubham Pandey and Himangshu Neog, research scientist Scott Fallows, and graduate students, Zachary Williams, Elliott Tanner and Chi Cap—all from the School of Physics and Astronomy.
For more information about the SuperCDMS experiment and collaboration, visit the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory website. Read the news release on the SLAC website.
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Reaching base temperature marks a major transition for SuperCDMS, from construction and installation to commissioning and science operations. For SuperCDMS, that temperature is thousandths of a degree above absolute zero, where atomic and molecular motion ceases.
The experiment is designed to detect dark matter particles—mysterious particles that make up 85 percent of all matter in the Universe—that are already passing through Earth. Dark matter remains strange and illusive but tremendously important to our understanding of nature, from the most fundamental particles to origins and evolution of the Universe.
“Getting to base temperature is a major milestone in a years-long campaign to build a low-background facility capable of housing our sensitive cryogenic solid state detectors,” said Priscilla Cushman, a professor in the University of Minnesota School of Physics and Astronomy and the Spokesperson of SuperCDMS. “At these extremely low temperatures, our installed detectors can now scan a whole new region of parameter space where the lightest dark matter particles may be lurking.”
The University of Minnesota team designed, procured, and assembled the low background shield that protects the detectors from trace radioactivity and neutrons produced by high-energy cosmic rays in the cavern walls. The four-meter tall, four-meter-diameter cylindrical enclosure is made of layers of ultra-pure lead to stop the gammas and high-density polyethylene to moderate the neutrons.
In addition to major roles in the installation and cooldown of the experiment, University of Minnesota researchers have developed new reconstruction algorithms and analysis techniques designed to rapidly extract dark matter signals from the data that will be flowing in a few months. The group is at the forefront of the science effort, with the help of School of Physics and Astronomy Assistant Professor Yan Liu, who is the Analysis Working Group Chair for the experiment.
The SuperCDMS experiment is sited at SNOLAB, a research facility located roughly 6,800 feet underground in an active nickel mine near Sudbury, Ontario. Buried at this depth, the experiment is protected from cosmic rays and other background particles that could drown out the faint signals scientists are trying to observe.
With base temperature achieved, the collaboration will move into detector commissioning, a months-long process of turning on, calibrating and optimizing each detector channel. Beyond dark matter, SuperCDMS will allow scientists to study rare isotopes, probe energies no one has measured before and maybe uncover entirely new kinds of particle interactions.
The SuperCDMS experiment is a joint project of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
In addition to Cushman and Liu, the University of Minnesota team includes postdoctoral researchers Shubham Pandey and Himangshu Neog, research scientist Scott Fallows, and graduate students, Zachary Williams, Elliott Tanner and Chi Cap—all from the School of Physics and Astronomy.
For more information about the SuperCDMS experiment and collaboration, visit the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory website. Read the news release on the SLAC website.
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