Performance of a SensL-30035-16P silicon photomultiplier array at liquid argon temperature

Next generation multi-ton scale noble liquid experiments have the unique opportunity to discover dark matter particles at the TeV scale, reaching the sensitivity of 10-48 cm2 in the WIMP nucleon scattering cross-section. A prerequisite will be the reduction of radiogenic background sources to negligible levels. This is only possible if ultra-pure high efficiency photosensors are available for the scintillation light readout. Current experiments (e.g. Xenon, LUX, Darkside, ArDM) use cryogenic PMTs as photosensors. An attractive alternative is represented by silicon photomultiplier arrays (SiPM arrays), which show unrivalled performances in single photon detection. This paper reports on the performance of the SensL-ArrayB-30035-16P SiPM array and a custom made cryogenic front-end board at the liquid argon temperature. Its performance at VOV=3.5 V, where the PDE is maximal, are very promising in terms of SPE resolution (about 8%), dark rate (about 250 Hz) and correlated pulses (30%). © 2015 IOP Publishing Ltd and Sissa Medialab srl