Dark-matter detector

A European research team has prototyped a 'scintillating bolometer', a device that will be used to detect dark matter of the universe.

The prototype was developed by researchers from the University of Zaragoza (UNIZAR) in Spain and the Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale (IAS) in France, and tested at the Canfranc Underground Laboratory in Huesca, Spain.

It forms part of the ROSEBUD project (Rare Objects SEarch with Bolometers UndergrounD), a collaborative initiative between the UNIZAR and the IAS to hunt for dark matter, a material that exerts gravitational force but does not emit light or radiation.

The scientists have been working for the past decade on this mission in Huesca, where they have developed various cryogenic detectors that operate at temperatures close to absolute zero (-273.15°C). Their latest device is a 'scintillating bolometer', a 46g device that contains a crystal scintillator made up of bismuth, germinate and oxygen and acts as a dark-matter detector.