Speaker
Description
The infrastructure associated with building a large accelerator complex created some very unique spaces at Fermilab. In particular, the MINOS tunnel, excavated as part of the NuMI neutrino beam delivering neutrinos to the MINOS, MINERVA, and NOVA experiments, is an easily-accessible 100m underground experimental space. The rock overburden at this depth blocks 99.5% of all cosmic ray muons, and nearly all hadronic showers, creating a unique, low-background environment for novel detector development and calibration. The NEXUS and QUIET laboratories, each equipped with dilution refrigerators for 10mK detector operation, are harnessing this opportunity. I will highlight the unique capabilities of these testbeds, as well as some of the interesting results that have come out of them. I will briefly touch on some of our ongoing studies and proposed experiments for the near future.