A Pathway to Sub-meV Detection of the Dark Universe: Robust Electron Avalanche in the PN junction at 10 mK
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arXiv
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| Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Formato: | Preprint |
| Publicado: |
2025
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| _version_ | 1866911421555539968 |
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| author | Gao, Aiqin Guo, Yiming Wang, Hengyu Sun, Xilei Li, Xuegang Wang, Junhua Lv, Junguang Qu, Guopu Cao, Lei |
| author_facet | Gao, Aiqin Guo, Yiming Wang, Hengyu Sun, Xilei Li, Xuegang Wang, Junhua Lv, Junguang Qu, Guopu Cao, Lei |
| contents | The search for light dark matter and cosmic primordial neutrinos necessitates detectors with sub-millielectronvolt (sub-meV) energy thresholds. While superconducting quantum sensors have approached this sensitivity, they often face significant challenges regarding readout complexity and scalability. To address these limitations, we propose a hybrid Superconductor-Insulator-P-N (S-I-P-N) detector architecture. This concept combines the high sensitivity of superconducting Cooper pair breaking with the massive intrinsic gain of semiconductor electron avalanches. A critical prerequisite for this scheme is operation at millikelvin (mK) temperatures, raising the critical fundamental question of whether silicon PN junctions can sustain avalanche multiplication in a regime where carrier freeze-out is severe. Here, we experimentally validate the critical semiconductor amplification stage of the proposed detector. We demonstrate that Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) retain robust Geiger-mode avalanche capabilities at 10 mK. We report a single-photoelectron gain of order 10$^6$ and a dark count rate as low as 5~mHz/mm$^2$, 7 orders of magnitude lower than at room temperature. These results confirm the viability of high-gain semiconductor readout in the deep cryogenic regime, clearing the primary obstacle regarding the semiconductor component for the realization of scalable, sub-meV threshold S-I-P-N detectors. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_11954 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | A Pathway to Sub-meV Detection of the Dark Universe: Robust Electron Avalanche in the PN junction at 10 mK Gao, Aiqin Guo, Yiming Wang, Hengyu Sun, Xilei Li, Xuegang Wang, Junhua Lv, Junguang Qu, Guopu Cao, Lei Instrumentation and Detectors The search for light dark matter and cosmic primordial neutrinos necessitates detectors with sub-millielectronvolt (sub-meV) energy thresholds. While superconducting quantum sensors have approached this sensitivity, they often face significant challenges regarding readout complexity and scalability. To address these limitations, we propose a hybrid Superconductor-Insulator-P-N (S-I-P-N) detector architecture. This concept combines the high sensitivity of superconducting Cooper pair breaking with the massive intrinsic gain of semiconductor electron avalanches. A critical prerequisite for this scheme is operation at millikelvin (mK) temperatures, raising the critical fundamental question of whether silicon PN junctions can sustain avalanche multiplication in a regime where carrier freeze-out is severe. Here, we experimentally validate the critical semiconductor amplification stage of the proposed detector. We demonstrate that Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) retain robust Geiger-mode avalanche capabilities at 10 mK. We report a single-photoelectron gain of order 10$^6$ and a dark count rate as low as 5~mHz/mm$^2$, 7 orders of magnitude lower than at room temperature. These results confirm the viability of high-gain semiconductor readout in the deep cryogenic regime, clearing the primary obstacle regarding the semiconductor component for the realization of scalable, sub-meV threshold S-I-P-N detectors. |
| title | A Pathway to Sub-meV Detection of the Dark Universe: Robust Electron Avalanche in the PN junction at 10 mK |
| topic | Instrumentation and Detectors |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.11954 |