Speakers
Description
Swiss research groups deliver leading contributions to particle, astroparticle, and gravitational-wave physics at major international facilities such as SURF, LNGS, and Boulby. To facilitate next-generation, large-scale projects, the Bedretto Underground Laboratory for Physics (Bedrettolab) is being developed as a premier low-background R&D facility. Located in Ticino, just two hours from Zurich via public transport, the laboratory features horizontal access and a 4000 m.w.e. overburden. Recent characterisation measurements by the University of Zürich establish low muon, gamma, neutron, and radon backgrounds, alongside minimal ambient vibration and electromagnetic noise.
A primary goal is to utilise Bedrettolab as a flexible development and systematics testbed for the XLZD liquid xenon experiment, enabling underground R&D of hardware, rare background processes and systematic studies in a well-shielded environment. The project will take place in two stages: First, the installation of underground clean-lab infrastructure to host dark matter, neutrino, and quantum sensing experiments, including XLZD demonstrators. Then, establish a dedicated gravitational-wave testbed. Bedrettolab’s proximity to leading European institutions and management structure will allow for fast and efficient R&D operations and greatly enhance our ability to perform necessary R&D for XLZD.