A new Micromegas line for the CAST experiment

✍ Scribed by Samuel Andriamonje; Stephan Aune; Heinrich Bräuninger; Theopisti Dafni; Berkol Dogan; George Fanourakis; Esther Ferrer Ribas; Javier Galan; Theodoros Geralis; Arnaud Giganon; Ioannis Giomataris; Igor G. Irastorza; Konstantinos Kousouris; Julio Morales; Jean Philippe Mols; Thomas Papaevangelou; Mike Pivovaroff; Marc Riallot; Jaime Ruz; Regina Soufli; Katherina Zachariadou

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 454 KB
• Volume: 581
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0168-9002
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nima.2007.07.081

✦ Synopsis

A low background Micromegas detector has been operating on the Cern Axion Solar Telescope (CAST) experiment at CERN for the search of solar axions during the first phase of the experiment. The detector operated efficiently and achieved a very low level of background rejection (5 Â 10 À5 counts keV À1 cm À2 s À1 ) thanks to its good spatial and energy resolution as well as the low radioactivity materials used in the construction of the detector. For the second phase of the experiment, the detector is being upgraded by adding a shielding and including focusing optics. These improvements should allow for a background rejection better than two orders of magnitude. The preliminary results of the first tests in the laboratory and in the PANTER X-ray test facility will be shown.