DARPA’s Defense Sciences Office is seeking proposals for new, high-sensitivity neutrino detectors. QuSeN aims to develop neutrino detectors with greatly increased performance to detect neutrinos from sources such as nuclear reactors and nuclear materials. Detectors will use neutrino-matter interactions that produce low-energy nuclear recoils and athermal phonons in absorber materials with high neutron numbers at the (multi)-kilogram scale.
Specifically, QuSeN seeks to develop detectors with improved sensitivity to neutrinos in the energy range from below 1 MeV to about 8 MeV. Using emerging concepts from quantum computing devices and quantum sensors could have potential for measuring small energy transfer signals, such as those from athermal phonons produced by CENNS. If successful, the combination of CENNS and quantum sensing technology could offer unprecedented sensitivity for detecting neutrinos from nuclear reactors and materials.
DARPA expects to make multiple awards of USD$1M – $5M for initial 30 month projects.
Abstracts (strongly encouraged but not mandatory) are due 25 November 2024, with full proposals due 20 January 2025.
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Broad Agency Announcement – QuSeN: HR001125S0004
