Laboratory
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Boulby Underground Laboratory
Searching for Dark Matter in ‘a quiet place in the universe’
Boulby Underground Laboratory is a multi-disciplinary scientific facility located deep underground and operated by the UK’s Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC) in collaboration with ICL UK. It stands out as one of the few locations worldwide that can accommodate ultra-low background and deep underground scientific projects. Boulby is truly a remarkable site for research, described as ‘a quiet place in the Universe,’ where experiments can be conducted with minimal interference from natural background radiation, especially from the cosmic rays that continuously strike the Earth’s surface.
Similar to other initiatives at ICL UK, this laboratory is situated at an impressive depth of 1,100 meters below the Earth’s surface and is home to several leading-edge scientific endeavours.
Research Projects
Research being conducted at Boulby encompasses a wide range of disciplines, with projects in both pure and applied science areas – from the quest to find Dark Matter in the universe to investigations in geology, geophysics, climate, the environment, and life in extreme conditions both on Earth and beyond. With a small team on-site, the laboratory facilitates the work of countless universities and institutions from both the UK and around the world. Boulby Underground Lab serves as the UK’s deep underground science facility and is one of only a few such establishments globally, enabling highly specialised but scientifically important research. Boulby Underground Laboratory aims to be a global hub for future underground scientific endeavours, in areas such as the next generation of dark matter detection, particle physics, Earth sciences, astrobiology, and quantum computing.
Dark Matter
The quest to detect Dark Matter ranks among the most significant and recognised fields of research conducted in the low-background environment at Boulby Underground Laboratory. The phrase ‘Dark Matter’ refers to an elusive, invisible particle believed to make up 85% of all matter in the universe, which scientists believe to be passing through us at all times. Underground laboratories, such as that at Boulby, are an ideal place to run Dark Matter detectors – highly sensitive machines designed to listen for the faint signals of a Dark Matter interaction.
For over three decades, Boulby Lab has been home to experiments aimed at uncovering evidence of these Dark Matter particles, featuring notable projects such as NAIAD, DRIFT, ZEPLIN, and, most recently, NEWS-G. Boulby Underground Lab is also home to a comprehensive material screening facility called BUGS, comprising of 7 Germanium detectors, 2 XIAs, 2 Radon emanation detectors, and an ICP-MS system – all of which play a crucial role in characterising the background radioactivity of materials destined for use in world-leading particle physics projects. BUGS has been a key player in the material screening process for numerous international particle physics projects, such as LZ (the current most sensitive dark matter detector in the world), Hyper-K (a neutrino experiment in Japan, a development upon Nobel Prize winning experiment Super-K), and XLZD (a next-generation dark matter detector).
MINAR XI Highlights (2023)