Speaker
Description
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory is the world’s largest neutrino telescope, located at the South Pole. IceCube has delivered numerous scientific results using the Antarctic ice as its detection medium. Building on its success and aiming to enhance the observatory’s sensitivity to neutrinos in the GeV energy range, the IceCube Upgrade, featuring new optical modules and calibration devices, was deployed during the austral summer of 2025/2026.
The Upgrade adds six new strings to the central region of the existing array, deep within the ice. Each string contains around 100 newly designed optical modules along with calibration devices. One of the primary goals of the IceCube Upgrade is to enhance detector calibration and minimize systematic uncertainties associated with the optical properties of the ice.
The Upgrade Camera System comprises nearly 2,000 cameras and illumination boards. During deployment and freeze-in, the cameras were operated to record the evolution of the hole ice, including the freeze-in timeline and the formation of bubble columns. In addition to imaging the local hole ice, cameras were configured to observe neighboring strings at distances of up to approximately 30 m, enabling measurements relevant to the optical properties of the inter-string bulk ice.
This presentation describes the operational strategy of the Upgrade Camera System, focusing on physics-driven imaging configurations and data-taking procedures that enabled stable and safe observations during deployment and freeze-in.