Advanced Particle and Radiation Detectors

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science supports the development of nextgeneration particle and radiation detectors to drive discoveries in High Energy Physics (HEP) and Nuclear Physics (NP). Looking to the future planned facilities and upgrades—such as the

Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) second detector, High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) upgrades, and rare event searches like next-generation dark matter and neutrinoless doublebeta decay (NLDBD) experiments, to name a few examples—demand detector technologies that far exceed current state-of-the-art capabilities. Depending on the particular environment, these future experiments require some combination of unprecedented sensitivity, extreme radiation hardness, ultra-low radioactive backgrounds, and high-rate capabilities. This topic bridges the gap between laboratory-scale proof-of-concept designs and commercially viable detector components, supporting both the DOE's scientific mission and adjacent industrial, medical, and national security markets.

Areas of Interest To address these future challenges, this topic seeks innovative proposals in three areas of interest.

a. Ultra-Low-Radioactivity Materials and Components: focusing on extremely radiopure structural, cabling, shielding, and low-temperature detector parts.

Goals and Metrics Proposals must address specific technical challenges and demonstrate understanding of the current state-of-the-art and offer innovative solutions to achieve or exceed targeted performance metrics: • Develop superconducting cables with U and Th contamination limited to the partsper-trillion level (ppt) and K limited to parts-per-billion (ppb), with transition temperatures (T_C > 2 K with above 4 K preferred) and parasitic resistance (~mOhm/trace). • Produce high-radiopurity structural components (e.g., nickel, tantalum, or titanium) with sub-ppt levels U and Th at thicknesses of 1 cm or more for structural or shielding applications. • Develop radiopure electronic connectors with residual radioactivity 1000 standard liters per minute).

b. High-Rate, High-Resolution Detectors and Scintillating Detector Materials: targeting next-generation focal plane spectrometers, Multigap Resistive Plate Chambers (MRPC), and fast-timing scintillating ceramics and glasses.

Goals and Metrics Proposals must address specific technical challenges and demonstrate understanding of the current state-of-the-art and offer innovative solutions to achieve or exceed targeted performance metrics: • Develop next-generation heavy-ion focal plane detectors or integrated spectrometer systems with time resolution resolution ( 1Mcps); • Develop of Multigap Resistive Plate Chamber (MRPC) detectors with thin pressure windows for heavy-ion applications, aiming to achieve high-counting rates (≥200 kHz/cm ), high timing resolution (6 g/cm^3) scintillating ceramics or glasses (excluding single crystals) with light yields > 15,000 photons/MeV, decay times of tens of ns or less, and radiation hard (tens to hundreds of Mega-rad). To be of interest, a convincing case must be made that these materials will cost a few $/cm3 once production methods are mature.

c. Vibration-Free Cryogenic Systems: emphasizing continuous, ultra-low-noise cooling and associated vibration monitoring at sub-Kelvin temperatures.

Goals and Metrics • Develop continuous "dry" dilution refrigerators operating in a vibration-free (<10^-7 g/sqrt(Hz) in the sub-Hz to 100 kHz range, with g=9.81 m/s^2,) at temperatures around 10 milli-Kelvin and with cooling power of at least 0.5 milli-Watt at 100 milli-Kelvin. • Develop calibrated sub-Kelvin accelerometer and readout systems with sensitivity at the level of 10^-7 g/sqrt(Hz) or better below 0.1K, with self-heating limited to <1 micro-Watt at 10 milli-Kelvin that is capable of measuring mechanical vibrations directly at the coldest stages (below 0.1 Kelvin) of a dilution refrigerator.

Not of Interest Proposed work is considered out of scope if it only offers incremental engineering advancements without a clear path toward high-impact commercialization or direct relevance to future HEP or NP programs. Scintillating crystals are not within the scope of this topic. Generalpurpose cryostats, sensors, or gas purification systems that do not meet the extreme radiopurity, vibration-free, or sub-Kelvin performance metrics specified above are ineligible. Standalone software developments or purely computational modeling efforts are also out of scope.

References 1. U.S. Department of Energy, 2023, The 2023 Long Range Plan for Nuclear Science, A New Era of Discovery, Office of Science. https://science.osti.gov/- /media/np/nsac/pdf/reports/2024/2024-NSAC-LRP-Report_Final.pdf . 2. U.S. Department of Energy, 2023, Exploring the Quantum Universe: Pathways to Innovation and Discovery in Particle Physics (aka 2023 P5 report), Office of Science. https://science.osti.gov/- /media/hep/pdf/2024/2023_P5_Report_Single_Pages.pdf. 3. Abdul Khalek R, et al., Science Requirements and Detector Concepts for the Electron- Ion Collider: EIC Yellow Report. https://inspirehep.net/literature/1851258. 4. Coordinating Panel for Advanced Detectors (CPAD) Workshop 2024, University of Tennessee, Knoxville. https://indico.phy.ornl.gov/event/510/ 5. Coordinating Panel for Advanced Detectors (CPAD) Workshop 2023, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. https://indico.slac.stanford.edu/event/8288/.

6. International Conference on Technology and Instrumentation in Particle Physics (TIPP 2023), Cape Town, South Africa. https://indico.tlabs.ac.za/event/112/. 7. Trento Workshop on Advanced Silicon Radiation Detectors (TREDI 2023), Trento, Italy. https://indico.cern.ch/event/1223972/. 8. DOE Basic Research Needs Study on High Energy Physics Detector Research and Development, 2020. https://science.osti.gov/hep/Community-Resources/Reports.