Daya Bay Project

The Daya Bay Reactor Project is a neutrino-oscillation experiment that will use anti-neutrinos produced by two large nuclear power plants located along the coast of China near Hong Kong.

Newly hired UW-Madison Physics Professor Karsten Heeger has invited the Physical Sciences Laboratory to be a contributor in the intriguing international scientific experiment. Heeger leads the UW-Madison group responsible for coordinating the design, fabrication, and installation of the anti-neutrino detectors at Daya Bay.

PSL is playing a lead role in the design and integration of the detectors. With their experience from ZEUS, CMS, and IceCube projects, the engineering team at PSL has the capability for overseeing the design of the anti-neutrino detectors. Lead engineer Lee Greenler has started preliminary strength and stress analysis of possible fabrication materials. Over the next year, prototype detector components will be designed and fabricated at PSL.

The Daya Bay project was described in an article in PSL's newsletter, the PSL Observer. The UW Physics Dept. also has a description available.

Ice Cube Digital Optical Modules

PSL is one of three Ice Cube Digital Optical Module(DOM) production sites and has responsibility for over 60% of the modules to be made. PSL has produced thousands of DOMs for Ice Cube and its predecessor AMANDA.

Quality assurance is an essential part of the production process, since these modules are installed kilometers deep, frozen into Antarctic ice.