CUTE
Summary Provided by Jonathan Corbett.
The Cryogenic Underground TEst facility (CUTE) at SNOLAB is a platform for testing and operating cryogenic devices in an environment with low levels of background. CUTE was designed and built in the context of the Super Cryogenic Dark Matter Search experiment (SuperCDMS) that uses cryogenic detectors to search for interactions of dark matter particles with ordinary matter. The facility has been used to test SuperCDMS detectors since its commissioning in 2019. In 2021, it was handed over to SNOLAB to become a SNOLAB user facility after the completion of the testing of detectors for SuperCDMS. The facility will be available for projects that benefit from these special conditions, based on proposals assessed for their scientific and technological merits.
This article describes the main design features and operating parameters of CUTE.
Left: The Dilution refrigerator is being moved from the drywell into the cleanroom by the monorail crane. The plastic disk in the ceiling of the cleanroom has been removed and the sliding panels are open, ready for the cryostat to be lowered. Right: A SuperCDMS tower with a single detector about to be mounted to the refrigerator is resting on a cover plate atop the nested cans.