The SWEET project: probing sugar crystals for direct dark matter searches

2025/09/29 by A. Bento, Bento, A., F. Casadei +25 · 1 voice · 1 citation
#physics.ins-det #nucl-ex

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2510.00068

Abstract

Several experiments searching for direct dark matter interactions aim to achieve unprecedented sensitivity to sub-GeV/c² dark matter masses through elastic scattering with nuclei in various target crystals at cryogenic temperatures. Hydrogen-rich materials, such as organic compounds, are promising candidates for the detection of sub-GeV/c² dark matter due to favourable kinematics. In this paper, we present for the first time results obtained with a sugar-based phonon detector employing sucrose crystals (\mathbfC₁₂H₂₂O₁₁), capable of particle detection with associated scintillation light.

Citations

• The CRESST experiment: towards the next-generation of sub-GeV direct dark matter detection
• First Limits on Light Dark Matter Interactions in a Low Threshold Two Channel Athermal Phonon Detector from the TESSERACT Collaboration
• First observation of single photons in a CRESST detector and new dark matter exclusion limits
• Detector Development for the CRESST Experiment
• DELight: a Direct search Experiment for Light dark matter with superfluid helium
• A Strategy for Low-Mass Dark Matter Searches with Cryogenic Detectors in the SuperCDMS SNOLAB Facility

Cited by

• Hydrogenated carbon structures as directional sub-GeV dark matter detectors

Discussions

• Surprisingly, not dated to April 1. "These results demonstrate that sugar can be operated as a cryogenic calorimeter, and may serve as a promising target material for direct dark matter detection." [bsky, 4 points, 2 comments]

Related

• SuperCDMS SNOLAB Low-Mass Detectors: Ultra-Sensitive Phonon Calorimeters for a Sub-GeV Dark Matter Search
• Athermal Phonon Sensors in Searches for Light Dark Matter
• Development of cryogenic phonon detectors based on CaMoO4 and ZnWO4 scintillating crystals for direct dark matter search experiments
• First Limits on Light Dark Matter Interactions in a Low Threshold Two Channel Athermal Phonon Detector from the TESSERACT Collaboration
• The scintillating crystal detector for the dark matter searches (proposal)