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Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
idw - Informationsdienst
Wissenschaft
Dr. Stefan Schoppmann, a particle physicist at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), has received the ICFA Early Career Instrumentation Award. With this, the International Committee for Future Accelerators (ICFA), which includes leading accelerator laboratories such as CERN, recog-nizes outstanding contributions to instrumentation development in particle physics.
Schoppmann, who conducts research as a Detector Innovation Fellow at the Detector Laboratory of the Cluster of Excellence PRISMA++, is being honored for his work on the development of novel detector technologies and materials. These advances enable precise measurements of difficult-to-detect particles that contribute to the study of the fundamental properties of the universe.
“The so-called Standard Model of particle physics describes many fundamental phenomena in na-ture,” says the physicist and mathematician. “However, key questions remain unanswered, such as the existence of dark matter. Addressing these questions requires extremely precise measurements and highly sensitive detectors.”
Highly sensitive detectors for rare particles
Schoppmann develops such technologies at the PRISMA++ Cluster of Excellence, a research consortium comprising the Institute of Physics at JGU, the Institute of Nuclear Physics at JGU, and the Helmholtz Institute Mainz, with a particular focus on work at the PRISMA Detector Laboratory. One major focus of his research is on measurement techniques for neutrinos. These elementary particles interact only very weakly with matter and are therefore especially difficult to detect experimentally. To enable precise measurements of their properties, Schoppmann has developed a new class of highly sensitive detector materials known as hybrid and opaque scintillators.
“Scintillators are materials that produce light when particles pass through them,” he explains. “In these novel, whitish, strongly scattering scintillating liquids, the generated light remains spatially confined within the material. This allows particle events to be localized more precisely and distin-guished more clearly from one another.”
According to the ICFA jury, Schoppmann’s pioneering work on scintillator technologies has signifi-cantly advanced neutrino and dark matter detectors through innovative experimental concepts and materials. The jury also emphasized his leading role in the development of a new generation of detector instrumentation with low noise and low background.
Schoppmann’s innovative technologies are being used in two globally unique research projects at the PRISMA++ Cluster in Mainz. One is the NuDoubt++ experiment, which he leads and which in-vestigates processes in neutrino physics. The latter include specific modes of double beta decay that place exceptionally high demands on detector technology. The novel scintillators could help address fundamental questions, such as whether neutrinos are their own antiparticles and what role they played in the emergence of the matter antimatter asymmetry after the Big Bang.
Search for dark matter
The second project, DarkMESA, focuses on the experimental search for dark matter. The intense electron beam of the MESA accelerator developed in Mainz generates rare processes that could point to previously unknown, weakly interacting particles. To reliably identify such signals, even the smallest sources of interference and measurement noise must be separated from the actual events. The goal is to find evidence for previously unknown dark matter particles, which are thought to make up a large fraction of the matter in the universe.
Schoppmann develops the detector components and materials required for these experiments together with colleagues at the PRISMA Detector Laboratory at JGU. As a central infrastructure for detector research within the Cluster of Excellence, the laboratory enables new measurement concepts to be tested under realistic conditions, from material development to fully functional prototypes. Testing includes detectors, optical components, and systems for electronic readout and data processing.
As an interface between basic research and technology development, the PRISMA
Detector Laboratory is closely integrated into international research projects. The researchers develop detec-tor technologies for experiments such as ATLAS at CERN and IceCube in Antarctica, as well as for underground dark matter experiments at facilities such as the Gran Sasso Laboratory in Italy.
ICFA is an organization of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics, which brings to-gether numerous physics societies worldwide. Stefan Schoppmann is receiving the ICFA Early Ca-reer Award at an international conference on detector development in Mumbai. “I am very pleased about this award, which recognizes the joint work of researchers, doctoral candidates, and students in the NuDoubt++ and DarkMESA experiments,” says Schoppmann. “Support from the PRISMA Detector Laboratory was essential for advancing the technology.”
Dr. Stefan Schoppmann
PRISMA Detector Laboratory
PRISMA++ Cluster of Excellence
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
55099 Mainz
phone: +49 06131 39-28818
e-mail: schoppmann@uni-mainz.de
web: https://researchprofiles.uni-mainz.de/14457-stefan-schoppmann
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