Design optimization of MACHe3, a project of superfluid He-3 detector for direct Dark Matter search

MAtrix of Cells of superfluid He-3 (MACHe3) is a project of a new detector for direct Dark Matter (DM) search. A cell of superfluid He-3 has been deve loped and the idea of using a large number of such cells in a high granular ity detector is proposed. This paper presents, after a brief description of the superfluid He-3 cell, the simulation of the response of different matr ix configurations allowing to define an optimum design as a function of the number of cells and the volume of each cell. The background rejection, for several configurations, is presented both for neutrons and gamma -rays of various kinetic energies. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserve d.