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The XENON Experiment underground. Left the water tank with a poster showing what’s inside. Right the three-story service building.
The heart of the project: The XENON1T Time Projection Chamber TPC after assembly in a clean room.
Assembly and Installation of the XENON1T Time Projection Chamber:
The time projection chamber is the heart of XENON1T, find more details about the installation here
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- Insertion of fiber optic cables through the PTFE panels of the field cage.
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- Top PMT array and reflector panels as seen from below the field cage.
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- Field cage from above after installation of gate and anode electrodes.
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- TPC (high-voltage feedthrough side) mounted to the top dome inside the water tank.
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- The cryostat hangs from the support structure within the water tank.
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- Experts construct the top PMT array.
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- The top PMT array with all of the electric cables.
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- The bottom PMT array.
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- The electric field cage is assembled.
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- The electric field cage and the bottom PMT array meet for the first time.
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- The TPC is complete.
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- The TPC is secured within the cryostat.
Videos:
The XENON1T Story
People from XENON1T
The big pieces of XENON 1T: Watch the construction of XENON 1t’s massive infrastructure, including the water tank, support structure, cable pipe and muon veto photomultiplier tubes
The Central Detector: Watch the installation of the Time Projection Chamber, which is the heart of the XENON1T detector. Find more details here.
Cryosystem: The cryostat will work to keep the liquid xenon inside XENON1T at a temperature of almost -100°C. Once the cryostat is sealed, as you see in this video, it is kept closed in order to prevent any contamination.
Distillation and ATTA Lab: We use a distillation tower in order to keep the liquid xenon clean and free of any sources of contamination, particularly due to the radioisotope Kr85. Watch the construction and learn more about how this system works!
ReStoX: Learn more about how we maintain the purity of the liquid xenon during runs and how we recover and recycle our liquid xenon.
Working with XENON1T: Having a particle collision inside the time projection chamber is just the beginning. Learn about what happens after we see a signal, including data acquisition, Monte Carlo modeling, calibration and computing.
Ever wonder what goes on above a dark matter detector? Welcome to the surface above Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS)! In this video, you’ll see what’s approximately 1400 m above the XENON experiment: the Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga National Park and the 10 km long Traforo del Gran Sasso freeway tunnel.
Watch the construction of the XENON water tank unfold! XENON1T will be shielded from ambient radioactivity by this large water tank that is equipped as a water Cherenkov muon veto. This 10 meter diameter tank stands at a final height of 10 meters and was completed after less than a month of construction.
Watch the installation of XENON1T’s lifeline: the cryogenic pipe! This massive pipe encloses all the recirculation pipes for xenon, helps evacuate the the cryostat, provides heat insulation and encloses signal and high voltage cables… the list goes on and on. If anything passes between the support structure and the experiment, this is the road it travels along
This video features close up footage of the smaller details from the XENON1T experiment, which are extremely important in operation. Some of these details include: photomultiplier tubes for signal detection, actual liquid xenon, pumps and getters for xenon recirculation, and multitudes of other equipment and systems.Gallery:
Construction of the water tank:
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- Construction of the XENON1T water tank: The floor in Hall B is prepared with self-leveling concrete. Image: Roberto Corrieri/XENON.
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- Construction of the XENON1T water tank: The roof of the tank is built first. Image: Roberto Corrieri/XENON.
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- Construction of the XENON1T water tank: The safety rail and stiffeners on top of the water tank are welded in place. Image: Roberto Corrieri/XENON.
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- Construction of the XENON1T water tank: The first ring is welded below the roof. Image: Roberto Corrieri/XENON.
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- Construction of the XENON1T water tank: As the large crane lifts the roof up, the second ring is welded on. Image: Roberto Corrieri/XENON.
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- Construction of the XENON1T water tank: Ways to go… Ring 3 is welded. Image: Roberto Corrieri/XENON.
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- Construction of the XENON1T water tank: Ring 4… Due to its corrosion resistance and its low radioactivity, the whole tank is made from specially selected stainless steel. Image: Roberto Corrieri/XENON.
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- Construction of the XENON1T water tank: The last ring is welded on. Image: Roberto Corrieri/XENON.
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- Construction of the XENON1T water tank: After welding the shell to the floor, the water tank is completed. Image: Roberto Corrieri/XENON.