Patrick's Experiments
Current Experiments
My current interests are in dark matter and neutrino properties. While the subjects are somewhat different, the experimental considerations actually have much in common. Experiments in both subjects are looking for rare events, this means that backgrounds, that could obfuscate the signal, have to be minimized. Experiments are therefore put underground (to minimize backgrounds induced by cosmic-ray muons) and kept in an ultra-clean environment. I am currently participating in the following experiments, all are underground:
- XENON - Dark Matter experiment at the LNGS laboratory in Italy.
- KamLAND(-Zen) - A neutrino and neutrinoless double beta decay experiment at Kamioka in Japan.
- DARWIN - A design study for a multi-target Dark Matter experiment, not at a lab yet!
- XAMS - Our xenon TPC R&D setup at Nikhef. You can see a movie of xenon being liquified in the cryostat!
Past Experiments
- CUORE - at the LNGS laboratory in Italy.
I participated in the following (above ground!) heavy-ion experiments in the past.