XENONnT

XENONnT is a dark matter detector located at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy. It is the next-generation experiment in the XENON program, designed to search for WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles), a leading candidate for dark matter. The detector utilizes a large volume of ultra-pure liquid xenon as its target material. When a WIMP or other particle interacts with a xenon nucleus, it produces a faint flash of light (scintillation) and frees electrons, which are then drifted by an electric field to the top of the detector where they create a second, larger signal. By measuring the timing and energy of these two signals, XENONnT can reconstruct the interaction point and distinguish potential dark matter signals from background events. The detector has a fiducial volume of 5.7 tonnes of liquid xenon, making it one of the largest dark matter detectors of its kind. XENONnT builds upon the successes of its predecessors, XENON10 and XENON1T, with improved sensitivity and a reduced background rate. The experiment aims to explore a new level of sensitivity in the WIMP parameter space, potentially making the first direct detection of dark matter. It is a collaboration involving scientists from numerous institutions worldwide.