Temperature-Dependent Performance of NaI(Tl) Crystal with Dual-Channel SiPM Readout for Low-Mass Dark Matter Searches
Abstract
We report the first temperature-dependent characterization of a NaI(Tl) crystal readout by two silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) directly coupled to opposite ends of the crystal for rare-event searches. A 6 mm × 6 mm × 13 mm NaI(Tl) crystal was directly coupled to two SiPMs and characterized in a liquid nitrogen-cooled cryostat over a temperature range of 94−293 K. The light yield, energy resolution, and scintillation decay time were measured using γ-ray peak from a 241Am source. After correcting for optical crosstalk contributions, the light yield increased, reaching 17.7 ± 1.1 photoelectrons/keV at 238 K, corresponding to a 34.5% enhancement relative to room temperature (293 K). Furthermore, dual-channel configuration effectively suppresses random thermal noise via coincidence triggers, which together with the observed increase in light yield, provides a critical pathway toward lowering the energy threshold for dark matter and coherent elastic neutrino−nucleus scattering searches.
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BibTeX
@misc{kim2026temperaturedependent,
title = {{Temperature-Dependent Performance of NaI(Tl) Crystal with Dual-Channel SiPM Readout for Low-Mass Dark Matter Searches}},
author = {W. K. Kim and H. Y. Lee and K. W. Kim and H. S. Lee},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2608.11303},
eprint = {2608.11303},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.11303},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Temperature-Dependent Performance of NaI(Tl) Crystal with Dual-Channel SiPM Readout for Low-Mass Dark Matter Searches
AU - W. K. Kim
AU - H. Y. Lee
AU - K. W. Kim
AU - H. S. Lee
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/27
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2608.11303
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.11303
AB - We report the first temperature-dependent characterization of a NaI(Tl) crystal readout by two silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) directly coupled to opposite ends of the crystal for rare-event searches. A 6 mm × 6 mm × 13 mm NaI(Tl) crystal was directly coupled to two SiPMs and characterized in a liquid nitrogen-cooled cryostat over a temperature range of 94−293 K. The light yield, energy resolution, and scintillation decay time were measured using γ-ray peak from a ^241Am source. After correcting for optical crosstalk contributions, the light yield increased, reaching 17.7 ± 1.1 photoelectrons/keV at 238 K, corresponding to a 34.5% enhancement relative to room temperature (293 K). Furthermore, dual-channel configuration effectively suppresses random thermal noise via coincidence triggers, which together with the observed increase in light yield, provides a critical pathway toward lowering the energy threshold for dark matter and coherent elastic neutrino−nucleus scattering searches.
ER -