Darkside-20k project

DarkSide

The Darkside-10 (DS-10) prototype was tested in 2012, and the Darkside-50 (DS-50) experiment has been operating since 2013. Darkside-20k (DS-20k) with 20 tonnes of liquid Ar is being planned as of 2019.

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The DarkSide collaboration is an international affiliation of universities and labs seeking to directly detect dark matter in the form of weakly interacting massive particles. The collaboration is planning, building and operating a series of liquid argon time projection chambers (TPCs) that are employed at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Assergi, Italy.

DarkSide-50 is a dual-phase argon Time Projection Chamber (TPC), developed for use in a search for direct evidence of dark matter. The experiment is hosted in Hall C of the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, underneath the Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park, and has been collecting data since October 2013.
DS-20k is a two-phase LAr detector with a 50 tonnes active volume. It will be installed in LNGS Hall-C in 2022 and will either detect WIMP dark matter or reach a 90% exclusion sensitivity to WIMP-nucleon cross sections of 7.4×10-48cm2 at the mass of 1TeV/c2.

mini video (experimental area) (c)
extended version (c)