Advancing the frontiers of physics at Wright Lab through advanced prototyping

The AIDC will be a hub for research instrumentation efforts at Yale University. It will build upon the Wright Lab Advanced Prototyping Center and create new spaces for the design, fabrication, and testing of novel research instrumentation.  The AIDC, now under construction as part of Yale’s Upper Science Hill Development project, is an important element of one of the cross-cutting priorities identified in a report issued by the University Science Strategy Committee. Karsten Heeger, Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics and Wright Lab director, is co-chair of the AIDC Planning and Transition Group; along with Lisa D’Angelo, Associate Provost for Research. 

A few examples of Wright Lab research programs that have been supported by advanced prototyping and instrumentation development are described below. Yale community members interested in learning more about using the advanced prototyping capabilities at Wright Lab for their research should contact Craig Miller, Research Shop supervisor and APC manager. 

The HAYSTAC and ALPHA experiments, both located at Wright Lab, use quantum and microwave technologies to search for a hypothetical dark matter candidate—a very low-mass particle called the axion. Steve Lamoreaux, Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics, and Reina Maruyama, professor of physics, are the principal investigators (PI) of HAYSTAC; and Maruyama is deputy spokesperson of ALPHA. 

The shops at Wright Lab have supported the fabrication of critical components for the HAYSTAC experiment and the ALPHA fridge. Advanced prototyping equipment, especially the water jet cutter, was crucial to allow rapid progress in building the HAYSTAC system. 

Maruyama explained, “Having on-site shops allowed the team to construct and successfully operate a complex detector with minimal financial support compared to other competing experiments.”  

Maruyama continued, “The capabilities and guidance from the APC are especially valuable to our students and postdocs, who were enabled to design, build, and install experimental hardware; making important contributions to the experiment’s success.” 

Current Axion Dark Matter at Yale researchers include: Keith Baker, D. Allan Bromley Professor of Physics; Sean Barrett, professor of physics; Charles Brown, assistant professor of physics;  Heeger, Konrad Lehnert, Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics;  Lamoreaux; Maruyama; Michael Jewell, associate research scientist; Maximiliano Silva-Feaver, Mossman Fellow; Tyler Johnson, postdoctoral associate; and graduate students Xiran Bai, Eunice Beato, Eduardo Castro Muñoz, Eleanor Graham, Claire Laffan, and Sukhman Singh.

The Moore group also has used the APC’s ultra-precise orbital Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) welding to build a new cryostat for research and development (R&D) for next-generation neutrino experiments.  

The cryostat is used to acquire ultrapure liquid xenon—the current supply of which is extremely limited— by trapping it optically. Xenon is used as a medium to slow down the particles that pass through, making it more possible for the detector to detect processes such as neutrinoless double beta decay, which, if found, could answer why we live in a Universe of matter, not antimatter. 

Moore said, “These fully custom, world-leading instruments are only possible to build with access to these resources.” 

Darroch said, “We encounter novel problems on a day-to-day basis in experiment physics. Our research requires rapid iteration on the design of our instruments, such as welding cryogenic plumbing on one day and machining bulk heads for a vacuum chamber on another. The APC enables us to solve these problems as fast as we encounter them, which means we spend more time in the lab and less time waiting for parts to arrive.” 

Current researchers working on this R&D project include: Moore; Darroch; and graduate students Glenn Richardson, Watts, and Sierra Wilde. 

Paul Tipton’s group is using ATLAS— a detector installed in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Switzerland—to test the Standard Model of physics and search for new physics. To enable this research, the group is constructing critical elements for an upgrade of the ATLAS tracker, called stave cores.  The stave cores are the structures that will hold the detector’s sensors, while maintaining a controlled temperature. Each stave core will have 28 thin silicon-wafer strip particle detectors mounted on it. Staves will reside in the central (barrel) region of the new tracker.  

The ATLAS team manufactured customized tooling for stave core production using 3D Printing at the APC. In order to be able to test the specifications of the produced stave cores, the team built a new thermal enclosure. The APC laser cutter was used for complex geometries in the enclosure, such as the access door, cooling line panel, and IR camera stand. 

Tipton said, “The in-house manufacturing process ensured a tighter quality control environment [than the previous testing setup the group had been using], providing the stability required for accurate stave core testing.” 

Brandon Ramirez, technician, said, “Access to the APC’s infrastructure has allowed us to rapidly modify and manufacture tooling, greatly shortening turnaround times, which has proven critical for meeting the demands of our R&D work.” 

Current ATLAS team members working on the stave core upgrade are: Tipton; Jeffery Ashenfelter, associate director for Wright Lab operations; Mark Haeckel, research & development technician 3 - mechanical technician; Tom Hurteau, research & development technician; Ramirez; postdoctoral associate Elise Le Boulicaut Ennis; graduate students Arianna García Caffaro and Jesse Farr; and undergraduate Laec Lorentzen.