Boulby Underground Laboratory

History is in the making as plans to construct a world-leading, next-generation #DarkMatter detector come to fruition – with the possibility of such science being hosted in the UK... Read more about XLZD and the future of UK dark matter research in our article below 👇 https://lnkd.in/ezHRnHkE #Science #Research #UKScience

#Radon is a difficult, frustrating gas to deal with... This week we #ThrowbackThursday to the end of June when Ed and Sophie finished the assembly of our Radon Emanation facility. This acts as a class 1000 clean room to protect our Radon Emanation detectors which are now nearly fully operational. Radon is a notoriously tricky gas to keep out of sensitive particle detectors. Fortunately, our Radon Emanation detectors can precisely measure the levels of radon within components or samples allowing particle detectors to account for radon levels within their experiments. This is helped by the relatively low levels of radon within the mine, only 3 becquerels per m3. Today is also the birthday of Marie Curie, an incredible scientist whose work on radium, a radioactive element that decays into radon, earned her a Noble Prize. However, it also cost her own life, killed by radiation poisoning from the radium. We must be grateful for her work, and that of other scientists to uncover the harmful effects of radiation.  #WISTEM 

We’re incredibly excited to be on the shortlist for hosting a next generation dark matter detector at Boulby, and we’re proud to be part of the UK’s plans for world-leading science over the next decade 🧪🌌    Read more about XLZD in the article below ⬇️ 

Earth and environmental science research is a core part of what we do – and British Geological Survey‘s RESOURCE project is one of the most exciting studies currently active in our underground lab 🪨⬇️ 

Today is #DarkMatterDay! 🎉 Dark Matter Day is celebrated by the physics community around the world. It celebrates the research that has occurred into #DarkMatter, and its mysterious place within the universe! We ourselves hosted a Live Link from our underground lab talking all things Dark Matter. 🌌 So, for this week’s #ThrowbackThursday, we throw back to a previous, and significant detector at our lab, ZEPLIN-III. Scientists working at Boulby developed new techniques with ZEPLIN-III that are now utilised in LZ, the most sensitive Dark Matter detector in the world. One of the key techniques ZEPLIN-III pioneered was the use of dual phase Xenon detection, increasing the sensitivity of the detector significantly. 🕵️ We hope to be able to host the next great Dark Matter detector at our lab, XLZD, in the years to come... 🤞 

Boulby Underground Laboratory is incredibly excited to be on the shortlist for hosting a next-generation dark matter detector, and we’re proud to be part of the UK’s plans for world-leading science over the next decade. Thousands of hours of work have been put into exploring the possibility of hosting XLZD – by us, by STFC-UK Research and Innovation, by members of the XLZD international consortium, and by dozens of UK universities and institutions. We’re extremely motivated to bring major international science to not just the UK, but also to the north east of England. If XLZD comes to Boulby, it will be among the largest and most significant UK-based science projects in over 50 years – and we firmly believe that the UK, STFC, and Boulby Underground Laboratory are capable of hosting one of the most pivotal science projects of the 21st century so far.    Read the official UKRI XLZD press release by clicking the link below.    https://lnkd.in/evp6dz6T

What’s the heaviest thing you’ve lifted... 🏋️ This week's #POTW is of our facility scientist Ed performing a sample swap on an underground detector. The detector is housed within a lead castle to further shield the sensitive detector from any background radiation. Each of the pieces that make up the lid of the castle weigh approximately a ton. Each piece must be carefully removed with our gantry crane to access the detector within. 🏗️ 

Ever wondered how you detect hidden particles? Use a photomultiplier tube! 🔍 This week's #PhotoOfTheWeek is of Andrew our Science Communication Industrial Placement Student holding a photomultiplier tube (or PMT) that is an example of one that will go in BUTTON, an anti-neutrino detector that uses liquid water as a scintillator. Anti-neutrinos interact with water to create a blue glow known as Cherenkov radiation. 💧 A PMT is a kind of reverse lightbulb that detects light to create an electric signal. The anti-neutrino will illuminate the water in BUTTON and create light that can be detected and measured. Hey Presto! You have detected a particle! 🎉 

#throwbackthursday to MINAR VI when we hosted engineers from the Luleå university in Sweden to build and deploy a large rover within our Mars Yard. 🤖 The engineers tested the rover in our Mars Yard, ensuring that the rover would operate in a harsh environment like our mine. It seems it passed with flying colours! 🎉 The rover returned the next year too, to continue exploring further and further into the mine. It was a great success for this prototype! If you want to learn more about how Boulby has supported space rover development, click the link below... https://lnkd.in/eaJ9Yhqb

Talk about eye-catching! 👀    Today’s special #WorldSpaceWeek –themed #PhotoOfTheWeek 📸 comes from last year’s MINAR! 🚀    What you’re looking at is a high-vis dress – part of an art installation by science artist Helen Schell, investigating what clothes might look like for an inhabitant of #Mars... 🪐    How will our perception of colour and pattern change when we’re on a planet with extremes of light and dark? How will we combine functionality and safety with usability and aesthetic? Helen's study aimed to explore all of these ideas and more... 🤔🦺    MINAR will be returning in early December – so stay tuned to see what we get up to this year!     #POTW