Abstract:

The DEAP/CLEAN collaboration has proposed to use liquid argon and neon as targets for dark matter and solar neutrinos. I will discuss measurements of scintillation of these liquids performed at Yale, in particular focusing on the use of pulse shape discrimination to reject electronic recoil backgrounds in liquid argon. I will also discuss studies of alpha and nuclear recoil backgrounds in the DEAP1 prototype detector currently operating underground at SNOLAB. If time permits, I will mention simulations of a large neon detector and their implications for detecting pp solar neutrinos.