National Science Foundation Particle and Nuclear Astrophysics program. UNC where various systems are being assembled and prepared for eventual installation underground. They’ve also deployed prototype detectors both here at UNC and underground at the nearby Kimballton Underground Research Facility in West Virginia.
Philip Thompson and Cliff Tysor from the department’s instrument shop have made significant contributions to the project. They have been working with the MJD team to develop and implement clean machining techniques and programs for the myriad number of parts that will be fabricated from clean materials and then used to assemble strings of HPGe detectors. The key machine tools, acquired as part of a NSF Major Research Instrumentation program grant to UNC, have been temporarily located in Phillips Hall where Philip and Cliff have developed the computer controlled programs that will eventually be used to machine parts underground at SURF. Starting this summer many activities will shift to SURF as the group plans to deploy a prototype cryostat underground before the end of 2012, and should commission the two ultra-clean cryostats using enriched detectors in 2013 and 2014. Funding for the DEMONSTRATOR is being provided by the Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Science and the National Science Foundation Particle and Nuclear Astrophysics program.