journal article·2021-02-01Open access

Photoelectric absorption cross section of silicon near the bandgap from room temperature to sub-Kelvin temperature

C. Stanford, M. J. Wilson, B. Cabrera, M. Diamond, N. A. Kurinsky, R. A. Moffatt, F. Ponce, B. von Krosigk, B. A. Young

AIP Advances· Volume 11· Issue 2

Abstract

The use of cryogenic silicon as a detector medium for dark matter searches is gaining popularity. Many of these searches are highly dependent on the value of the photoelectric absorption cross section of silicon at low temperatures, particularly near the silicon bandgap energy, where the searches are most sensitive to low mass dark matter candidates. While such cross section data have been lacking from the literature, previous dark matter search experiments have attempted to estimate this parameter by extrapolating it from higher temperature data. However, discrepancies in the high temperature data have led to order-of-magnitude differences in the extrapolations. In this paper, we resolve these discrepancies by using a novel technique to make a direct, low temperature measurement of the photoelectric absorption cross section of silicon at energies near the bandgap (1.2 eV–2.8 eV).
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline

Research context

OpenAlex topics: Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena · Chemical and Physical Properties of Materials · Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Department of Physics, Stanford University 1 , Stanford, California 94305, USA

Department of Physics, Harvard University 2 , Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA

Department of Physics, University of Toronto 3 , Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A7, Canada

Institut für Experimentalphysik, Universität Hamburg 4 , 22761 Hamburg, Germany

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory/Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology 5 , 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Center for Particle Astrophysics 6 , Batavia, Illinois 60510, USA

Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago 7 , Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA

Department of Physics, Santa Clara University 8 , Santa Clara, California 95053, USA

Funding

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft · Germany’s Excellence Strategy · National Science Foundation · Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada · SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory · Fermilab

References (29)

Show source-provided references
1. Phys. Rev. Lett. · 2018 · 121 · 05130110.1103/PhysRevLett.121.051301 ↗
2. D. W. Amaral et al., “Constraints on low-mass, relic dark matter candidates from a surface-operated supercdms single-charge sensitive detector,” arXiv:2005.14067 [hep-ex] (2020).
3. Phys. Rev. D · 2020 · 101 · 05200810.1103/PhysRevD.101.052008 ↗
4. Phys. Rev. Lett. · 2019 · 123 · 18180210.1103/PhysRevLett.123.181802 ↗
5. SENSEI Collaboration, arXiv:1901.10478 [hep-ex] (2019).
6. Effect on dark matter exclusion limits from new silicon photoelectric absorption measurements
7. J. High Energy Phys. · 2017 · 6 · 8710.1007/JHEP06(2017)087 ↗
8. Phys. Rev. D · 2008 · 78 · 11501210.1103/physrevd.78.115012 ↗
9. Phys. Rev. Lett. · 2017 · 119 · 18180610.1103/PhysRevLett.119.181806 ↗
10. At. Data Nucl. Data Tables · 1993 · 54 · 18110.1006/adnd.1993.1013 ↗
11. Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells · 2008 · 92 · 130510.1016/j.solmat.2008.06.009 ↗
12. Prog. Photovoltaics: Res. Appl. · 1995 · 3 · 18910.1002/pip.4670030303 ↗
13. Phys. Rev. · 1955 · 99 · 115110.1103/physrev.99.1151 ↗
14. Palik · 1997 · 547
15. Phys. Rev. · 1958 · 111 · 124510.1103/physrev.111.1245 ↗
16. Phys. Rev. B · 1983 · 27 · 98510.1103/physrevb.27.985 ↗
17. IEEE Trans. Electron Devices · 2003 · 50 · 22510.1109/ted.2002.806476 ↗
18. Phys. Scr. · 1975 · 12 · 34210.1088/0031-8949/12/6/008 ↗
19. Appl. Phys. Lett. · 2019 · 114 · 03210410.1063/1.5049691 ↗
20. AIP Adv. · 2020 · 10 · 02531610.1063/1.5131171 ↗
21. J. Low Temp. Phys. · 2012 · 167 · 20210.1007/s10909-011-0449-7 ↗
22. J. Low Temp. Phys. · 2014 · 176 · 14810.1007/s10909-014-1111-y ↗
23. Solid-State Electron. · 1979 · 22 · 79310.1016/0038-1101(79)90128-x ↗
24. Phys. Status Solidi A · 2019 · 216 · 190031510.1002/pssa.201900315 ↗
25. Phys. Rev. · 1955 · 97 · 31110.1103/physrev.97.311 ↗
26. Phys. Rev. D · 2018 · 97 · 01500410.1103/physrevd.97.015004 ↗
27. Phys. Rev. D · 2020 · 101 · 05500410.1103/physrevd.101.055004 ↗
28. Phys. Rev. D · 2019 · 99 · 12300510.1103/physrevd.99.123005 ↗
29. S. M. Griffin, Y. Hochberg, K. Inzani, N. Kurinsky, T. Lin, and T. C. Yu, “SiC detectors for sub-GeV dark matter,” arXiv:2008.08560 [hep-ph] (2020).10.1103/PhysRevD.103.075002 ↗