DAMIC-M: Exploring the Hidden Sector of Dark Matter with Ultra-Sensitive CCDs
DAMIC-M (Dark Matter in CCDs at Modane) is a direct dark matter detection experiment located at the Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane (LSM). It relies on ultra-low-noise charge-coupled devices (CCDs), particularly Skipper CCDs, which enable charge readout with zero error, providing exceptional energy resolution. These sensors offer unique sensitivity to the tiny interactions of low-mass dark matter particles with ordinary matter electrons. Thanks to these technological advances, DAMIC-M is now the leading experiment in exploring the hidden sector, where dark matter could consist of particles interacting weakly via new mediators.
The prototype of the experiment, the Low Background Chamber (LBC), successfully demonstrated the feasibility of detecting electronic interactions at ultra-low energies, leading to two major publications in Physical Review Letters. These results paved the way for the full-scale experiment, which is currently being installed at LSM. The final version of the detector will feature several hundred grams of next-generation CCDs with unprecedented radiopurity and background control. With these capabilities, DAMIC-M is expected, within the next two years, to explore the entire parameter space predicted for hidden-sector dark matter coupled to electrons.
The underground environment of LSM, combined with shielding and detectors of extreme radiopurity, eliminates a large fraction of background noise, ensuring maximum sensitivity to rare interactions.
The DDM group of the A2C division is strongly involved in the development of the experiment, participating in the study of detector operation, developing the experiment’s data acquisition system, and making significant contributions to data analysis. DAMIC-M is part of an international collaboration bringing together several institutes across Europe and the Americas. Its results will provide essential constraints on hidden-sector dark matter models and guide the next steps in experimental research in this field.