Rare event searches with cryogenic detectors

Cryogenic detectors can detect the smallest energy depositions via the scattering of the incoming particle with the detector material. The deposited energy leads to minimal temperature rises of a few μ K , read out via transition edge sensors and SQUIDs. Using scintillating crystals as detector material offers the possibility of discriminating between nuclear recoils from dark matter scattering and electromagnetic background events. The CRESST experiment pioneered this technology and is still among the most sensitive experiments searching for sub-GeV dark matter particles. The technology is now also used by other experiments for dark matter searches (COSINUS) and for measuring coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (NUCLEUS). We discuss cryogenic detectors’ detection principle and their application. We present the latest dark matter results from CRESST, a new type of background, and the status of the COSINUS and NUCLEUS experiments.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘The particle-gravity frontier’.