Speaker
Description
The PICO Collaboration searches for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) using bubble chamber technology. Filled with superheated C$_3$F$_8$, PICO detectors achieve world-leading sensitivity to spin-dependent WIMP–proton interactions through unpaired protons in the fluorine nuclei while being insensitive to gammas from electron recoils. Housed in SNOLAB in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, the PICO-40L detector is the first large-scale implementation of the "right-side-up" bubble chamber design, in which the absence of a buffer fluid in contact with the C3F8 minimises background rates from particulates entering the chamber. PICO-40L is currently fully assembled, with some preliminary data taken, and is being recommissioned for more data collection. PICO-500 is the next-generation PICO bubble chamber. Planned to hold 260 L of C$_3$F$_8$, with a projected ton-year exposure, it will further extend PICO's sensitivity to spin-dependent dark matter detection. It is currently being assembled at SNOLAB, with major assembly milestones recently passed. This talk will present the status of the PICO-40L detector and will give an update on the assembly progress and commissioning plans of PICO-500.
