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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Status of the EDELWEISS experiment

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The Edelweiss Dark Matter Experiment is installed in the Modane Underground Laboratory since 1994. In 1997 the first detector of a 70 g heat and ionization Ge low-temperature detector built by the collaboration showed its discrimination capabilities. During the last two years the installation was upgraded, and a new generation of 70 g Ge detectors is operational. The detector environment is drastically controlled to avoid radioactive contamination. A test run with two new 70 g detectors shows a reduction by a factor of ten in the background level before 7-ray rejection which is now around 2 events/kg/keV/day. Three 320 g Ge cryogenic detectors have been constructed and are now being tested and should soon be operational in the present cryostat. A new cryostat is being built and will allow a detection volume of 100 1. It is expected to be installed in Modane next year. In a first step of 21×320 g Ge detectors, the Edelweiss-II experiment should test an important fraction of the MSSM Susy parameter space.