SNOLAB User Meeting 2026

May 26, 2026, 9:00 AM → May 27, 2026, 5:05 PM Canada/Eastern

Fraser Duncan Auditorium (SNOLAB)

Miriam Diamond (University of Toronto), Stephen Sekula (SNOLAB. Queen's University, and Laurentian University)

 

The biennial SNOLAB Users Meeting is a chance to share the status of active projects, plans or ideas for future projects, exchange information about user experiences, and engage with laboratory management about facility and community issues.

The 2026 User Meeting

This year's User Meeting is hosted at SNOLAB on May 26-27.  We are excited for projects to share new results and milestones with the community and to engage in discussions on a range of issues, including research, EDI, governance, projects, and facilities.

Members of the SNOLAB User Community are invited to register for the event, submit abstract(s) for a talk and/or poster, and participate in this important meeting. Potential future members of the SNOLAB User Community are also welcome to participate, share ideas for future projects, and learn about the laboratory community, culture, and facilities.

This is an in-person event. With the permission of presenters, we will record talks and make those available after the meeting.

Deadlines

Abstract submissions for priority consideration must be received by May 1.  Please consider this the priority deadline.

Registrations will close on two weeks prior to the meeting, on May 13. 

While registrations and abstract submission after that is possible, we may not be able to accommodate them. 

Register and Submit Abstracts

Please use the Registration link to register yourself for the meeting. If you also wish to submit an idea (abstract) for a talk or poster, please use the Abstract Submission form after registering. Abstracts will be reviewed by the organizers before being accepted. We may not be able to accept every talk or poster idea, depending on demand. We will do our best to work with submitters to try to accommodate talks and posters that align with the goals of the meeting.

We especially encourage junior members of collaborations and projects (students, post-doctoral fellows, etc.) to submit abstracts for either talks or posters. We welcome multiple submissions from the same collaboration or project, but the organizers may (depending on the number of submitted abstracts) ask submitters and their collaborations to consolidate material for talks.

Talks should be planned for 15' plus 5' for discussion and questions. Depending on the abstracts we receive, we may elevate some of the proposed talks to 30' plus additional time for discussion.

Tue, May 26

Opening: Welcome

A session of opening remarks and introductions

Conveners: Miriam Diamond (University of Toronto), Prof. Stephen Sekula (SNOLAB. Queen's University, and Laurentian University)

1 Welcome and Important Information

Speakers: Miriam Diamond (University of Toronto), Prof. Stephen Sekula (SNOLAB. Queen's University, and Laurentian University)

2 Welcome from Laboratory Leadership

3 Goals of the Meeting

Speakers: Miriam Diamond (University of Toronto), Prof. Stephen Sekula (SNOLAB. Queen's University, and Laurentian University)

Experiment and Project Reports: From Dark Matter to Human Health

4 POLAR: Exploring Human Physiology Underground

Deep underground environments expose humans to environmental conditions whose physiological effects remain almost entirely unstudied, despite their relevance to mining, remote operations, and extreme environment medicine. POLAR (Physiology Of Life in Austere Regions) is using portable ultrasound technology at SNOLAB to capture the first real-time measurements of human cardiac and pulmonary function during acute deep underground exposure. The program will also investigate how elevated ambient pressure alters the behaviour of ultrasound contrast microbubbles deep underground, advancing the potential for imaging, diagnostics, and clinical decision-making in austere settings. By establishing the first in vivo physiological reference dataset deep underground, POLAR creates a new platform for occupational health research, remote monitoring, and human performance science in extreme environments.

Speaker: Szymon Manecki (SNOLAB)

5 Q&A

6 Recent results from the DEAP-3600 experiment

DEAP‑3600, with its 3.3‑tonne target and located at SNOLAB, currently represents the leading effort within the international community in the dark‑matter direct detection in liquid argon, while construction of the next‑generation experiment, DarkSide‑20k, is underway at LNGS in Italy. By analyzing approximately three years of data, DEAP‑3600 has recently released its most up-to-date exclusion limits on Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), derived through a detailed Profile‑Likelihood Ratio analysis. These limits are strongly influenced by backgrounds originating from degraded alpha particles within the active argon target.

At the same time, the experiment’s large exposure and exceptionally low background levels at the MeV energy scale have enabled a broadened physics program, including the first experimental measurement of neutrino absorption in Argon‑40 using ⁸B electron neutrinos. Although never previously observed, this process is critical to the multi‑messenger astronomy and solar neutrino goals of both DUNE and DarkSide‑20k
Detector upgrades have been ongoing since the end of the second fill run in 2020, targeting the reduction of backgrounds from shadowed alphas and dust in the liquid. These improvements are now being evaluated in the newly initiated third fill run. We also present preliminary results from the analysis of the third‑fill data, which will inform both the effectiveness of the recent detector upgrades in suppressing backgrounds and the design of future noble‑liquid experiments.

Speaker: Michela Lai (University of California Riverside)

7 Q&A

10:30 AM Break

Panel Discussion: EDI Action

A discussion by and with members of a panel of experts

8 Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and the SNOLAB Project Lifecycle: Now and the Future

Speakers: Mehwish Obaid (SNOLAB), Nasim Fatemighomi (SNOLAB)

Laboratory Reports: Engagement with Laboratory Leadership I

Reports by laboratory leadership and discussion

9 Status and Outlook: Operations at SNOLAB

Speaker: Richard Ford (SNOLAB)

10 Discussion

12:15 PM Lunch

Laboratory Reports: Engagement with Laboratory Leadership II

Reports by laboratory leadership and discussion

11 SNOLAB Now and in the Future: Perspectives from the Executive Director

Speaker: Jodi Cooley (SNOLAB)

12 Discussion

Spotlight: The XLZD Landscape

A highlighted or featured speaker/topic

13 The multi-physics observatory XLZD: global and Canadian efforts

The XLZD Collaboration is developing an international experiment to search for WIMP dark matter down to the systematic limit imposed by astrophysical neutrinos and to search for neutrinoless double beta decay with a sensitivity competitive to other next-generation searches. Earlier this year a Canadian team of 18 scientists at 11 institutions joined these efforts with the goal of attracting the experiment to SNOLAB and enhancing further the experiment's already competitive sensitivity through a dedicated R&D program.

The experiment will be based on the heritage detector designs now operating at the 10-tonne scale implemented by the XENONnT and LUX-ZEPLIN collaborations, and further informed by work being carried out by the DARWIN R&D collaboration. These teams have used liquid xenon time projection chambers to probe WIMP parameter space to unprecedented levels. Building on these successes, we envision a new detector composed of at least 60-tonnes of active xenon surrounded by an outer detector, ideally instrumented to monitor and measure gamma and neutron backgrounds. XLZD will reach at least 200 tonne-years of exposure, and potentially up to 1000 tonne-years, allowing us to definitively explore the remaining WIMP parameter space. At this scale, XLZD will be able to competitively probe neutrinoless double-beta decay in xenon-136 and search for a broad range of new astrophysical neutrino phenomena.

Speakers: Hugh Lippincott (UCSB), Hugh Lippincott (UCSB), Thomas Brunner (McGill University)

Poster Presentations: Social Break and Poster Presentation I

A session dedicated to audience engagement with poster presenters

14 Cleaning program for SNO+ internal calibration sources

Internal calibration sources used in SNO+ have been deployed last year (2025). In order to maintain the quality of the liquid scintillator in the SNO+ Acrylic Vessel (AV), calibration sources must be cleaned and confirmed to be at the desired cleanliness level for SNO+ scintillator. A bespoke Source Cleaning Vessel (SCV) was developed for this task, recirculating a closed-loop volume of SNO+ liquid scintillator. Cleanliness quality for the sources was determined using Liquid Particle Counting (LPC) and UV-Vis spectroscopy of the cleaning scintillator.

Speaker: Matt Depatie (Queen's University)

Experiment and Project Reports: Underground Observatories I

15 SNO+ DAQ Chain, from Pulses to Analysis ready data

The SNO+ experiment is built into the large cavern at SNOLAB, it consists of a central 12 meter diameter acrylic sphere filled with scintillating cocktail linear alkyl benzene and wavelength shifting fluors surrounded ~9400, 8 inch PMTs held in place by a geodesic support structure. The physics goals of the experiment focus on several aspects of neutrino physics, from solar, reactor and geologically produced neutrinos with the overarching goal to perform a search for neutrinoless double beta decay using tellurium-130.
A lesser discussed topic in experimental physics is simply that of, ‘how does an experiment take its raw data, and hand it to analysers’. Here we will discuss how the SNO+ experiment can produce high quality data using electronics nearing 30 years old, the steps, the quirks and the challenges this poses.

Speaker: Mark Ward (Queen's University)

16 Q&A

17 Astrophysics at SNO+

SNO+ is a multi-purpose neutrino detector based at SNOLAB with the capability to make contributions to multi-messenger astronomy. The majority of recent attention has been focussed on the observation of reactor neutrino oscillations and novel solar neutrino measurements. In addition to these measurements, SNO+ has explored the environment around SNOLAB itself with the detection of geo-neutrinos and the exploration of the muon flux experienced in the Vale-Creighton mine. SNO+ has also taken further steps to better understand its own response with the first internal calibration source deployments. Initial results of the optical and energy response analysis will be discussed, as well as their implications for future measurements. As the detector is located in a unique location, there is ongoing interest in measurements of astrophysical phenomena, supernovae in particular.

Speaker: Ryan Bayes (Queen's University)

18 Q&A

19 COSMO & CRUST

Muons, while reduced at SNOLAB's underground complex, are still a dominant background to many of the experiments located there. Two new collaborations are interested in better understanding these muon shower interactions: COSMO and CRUST. COSMO is a hardware project with industry partners, looking to deploy muon trackers in different locations underground, for a ~decadal study of the differential flux of high energy muons . CRUST is an analysis focused meta-collaboration looking at combining the muon data from the experiments underground to cross-correlate events and share developments in simulation tools for the community. This talk will cover both new projects, explaining their utility to the lab and their new scientific goals.

Speakers: Dr Andrew Erlandson (CNL), Erica Caden (SNOLAB)

20 Q&A

6:00 PM NO-HOST DINNERS

Wed, May 27

Experiment and Project Reports: Solid-State Dark Matter Physics

21 SuperCDMS: Commissioning Status

The SuperCDMS SNOLAB experiment, having concluded its Installation & Integration phase in January, is currently in its Commissioning phase. Early commissioning data, combined with data from the testing of one detector tower in CUTE in Fall 2023, is informing detector characterization, background modeling, calibration schemes, and event reconstruction techniques. This talk will summarize the commissioning status, plans for completing the remainder of the commissioning work, and plans for first science running.

Speaker: Miriam Diamond (University of Toronto)

22 Q&A

23 Dark matter detection with skipper-CCDs: latest results and prospects.

I will present a summary of the latest results of direct sub-GeV dark matter detection with Skipper-CCDs. I will describe ongoing efforts and discuss plans for future efforts at SNOLAB and UMontreal, from the SENSEI array to OSCURA.

Speaker: Ana Martina Botti (ana.martina.botti@umontreal.ca)

24 Q&A

25 Directional DM detectors: anisotropic scintillating crystals with CCDs

In direct detection searches for scattering of electrons off low-mass (sub-GeV) DM, a promising approach to address problematic backgrounds and penetrate the "neutrino fog" is to exploit Earth’s daily rotation relative to the direction of the DM wind, which can result in a modulation of the expected signal rate. Organic scintillating crystals contain an intrinsic anisotropy in their crystalline structure which manifests as a directionally-sensitive scintillation threshold. Particularly for DM masses around 1 MeV, this is expected to result in an O(1) daily modulation in the signal rate in the case of optimal crystal alignment. Meanwhile, decoupling the scattering target from the readout sensor allows for more cost-effective scaling. We present here the proof-of-concept for a prototype directional DM detector using anisotropic scintillating crystals optically coupled to Skipper-CCD photosensors. In future, the prototype could be scaled up in an "ice cube tray"-like configuration, and installed in a cryostat at SNOLAB. Given that SNOLAB currently hosts the DAMIC infrastructure, this would be a natural continuation of the CCD program at the lab.

Speaker: Yonatan Kahn (University of Toronto)

26 Q&A

10:30 AM Break

Spotlight: Emerging Researchers

A highlighted or featured speaker/topic

27 DORY: An Optical Monitoring and Calibration Module for the nEXO Outer Detector

Neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ) is a hypothetical nuclear process in which two neutrons in a nucleus transform into two protons and two electrons without emitting electron antineutrinos. Its observation would demonstrate lepton number violation in weak processes and confirm that neutrinos are Majorana particles. Next-generation 0νββ searches using candidate isotopes aim to reach half-life sensitivities beyond 1028 years. nEXO is a proposed experiment targeting this regime using 136Xe in a liquid xenon (LXe) time projection chamber (TPC). The LXe TPC is housed within a vacuum insulated cryostat and shielded by a 12.3 m diameter, 12.8 m high tank containing 1.5 kilotonnes of ultra-pure water, instrumented with 125 photomultiplier tubes (PMTs). The water tank and the PMT array form the nEXO water Cherenkov muon veto system, also known as the Outer Detector (OD).
To ensure the long-term stability and performance of OD, a monitoring and calibration system is under development. In this system laser light is delivered via optical fibers to optical modules, called DORY, deployed inside the water tank. Each DORY module consists of a PTFE plug and sphere that together form the diffuser. The diffuser is housed inside a pressure enclosure composed of a glass dome window and inner and outer flanges. The DORY modules emit light isotropically, enabling water quality monitoring and PMT timing calibration.
The design and first prototype of DORY have been completed, and we are currently characterizing its light emission profile. DORY characterization setup employs a motorized two-axis rotary stage on which the module is mounted, enabling 4π angular coverage. A fixed PMT records the light intensity at each orientation of the module, producing a map of its emission profile. In parallel, we are planning DORY upgrade and developing the installation strategy for deployment in the water tank. We are also exploring the potential use of the same module in the PICO experiment.
In this talk, I will present the design and current development status of DORY, discuss the upgrades identified during the prototyping phase, describe DORY characterization setup, and present simulation results used to optimize the system parameters. I will also show the first measurements of the module’s light emission profile.

Speaker: Ms Samin Majidi (McGill University)

28 Q&A

Panel Discussion: Outreach and Science

A discussion by and with members of a panel of experts

29 From Measurement to Media Outlet: How Results Get Out There

12:15 PM Lunch

Spotlight: Frontiers of Science

A highlighted or featured speaker/topic

30 First evidence of neutrino absorption on argon using Boron-8 solar neutrinos in DEAP-3600

We discuss the recent result of DEAP-3600 showing evidence for charged-current Boron-8 solar neutrino absorption on Argon-40. In a visible energy window corresponding to neutrino energies of 12.0 to 14.5 MeV, we observe 6 candidate events. This measurement is of 4.0 sigma significance, and corresponds to a cross section a factor of (2.4 +1.3 -1.0) times that of Bhattacharya, Goodman, and Garcia (2009).

Speaker: Speaker TBD

31 Q&A

Experiment and Project Reports: Facilitating Science with Science

32 Broad-Range Underground Neutron Spectroscopy (0-11 MeV) Using Optimized Moderation and Direct Inversion with Repurposed He-3 Counters at SNOLAB

Characterizing ambient neutron backgrounds is vital for mitigating background with shielding in deep underground rare-event physics searches. We present an experimental and analytical framework to reconstruct the ambient neutron flux up to 11 MeV at the SNOLAB J-Drift location using repurposed Helium-3 (He-3) Neutral Current Detectors (NCDs). First, a direct thermal neutron flux measurement was established using bare detectors. To cleanly isolate the thermal component from the epithermal tail, an upcoming publication introduces an experimental deployment utilizing the Cadmium difference method (Thermal flux = Bare detector flux - Cd setup flux). Integrating calibration and analytical wall-effect corrections, the direct ambient thermal flux was measured to be (4.37 +/- 0.12) x 10^-6 cm^-2 s^-1. Second, we address broad spectral deconvolution (0-11 MeV) by selecting specific moderator configurations (Bare, 1-inch, and 2-inch high-density polyethylene) calibrated at a corrected density of 948 kg/m^3 to minimize the condition number of the response matrix. In trials using standard flat energy binning, direct matrix methods yielded an integrated total flux of (1.11 +/- 0.05) x 10^-6 cm^-2 s^-1, demonstrating excellent numerical agreement with benchmarking iterative algorithms (MLEM and GRAVEL). Finally, to incorporate realistic physical priors, an enhanced unfolding framework was implemented by substituting flat bins with custom energy weights: a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution for the thermal regime, a 1/E distribution for the epithermal regime, and a SOURCES-4C raw normalized spectrum for the fast regime. Under this physically motivated weighting scheme, Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) and LU decomposition smoothly processed the well-conditioned matrix, providing a total integrated flux of (1.01 +/- 0.05) x 10^-6 cm^-2 s^-1 with highly suppressed error propagation. Due to the high computational time demands of iterative techniques and the high stability of our optimized direct linear approach, future background monitoring will pivot exclusively to direct inversion frameworks.

Speaker: Kishan Chaudhary (Undergraduate Research Assistant)

33 Q&A

34 GPS Timing at SNOLAB

Multi-messenger astronomy is a flourishing field that seeks to combine signals from many experiments to characterize astrophysical objects and events. These experiments use a huge number of technologies to observe different intermediary particles such as visible, radio-frequency, and X-ray photons; cosmic rays; neutrinos; and gravitational waves. The key to combining these diverse experiments is accurate timing using GPS infrastructure. SNOLAB provides a GPS time server underground. This talk will describe how this server is synced to the global GPS system and what uncertainties are introduced. It will also discuss what equipment can be used by experiments underground to provide accurate timestamps for their data-streams.

Speaker: Tom Sonley (SNOLAB)

35 Q&A

Poster Presentations: Social Break and Poster Presentation II

A session dedicated to audience engagement with poster presenters

36 Human intestinal organoids for studying natural background radiation deprivation

Natural background radiation (NBR) has been a constant environmental force throughout the evolution of life, yet its contribution to normal human tissue function remains poorly understood. The REPAIR project, located 2 km underground at SNOLAB, provides a unique ultra-low radiation environment where we can investigate how biological systems respond when this longstanding environmental signal is removed.
Previous research from our group has demonstrated that sub-NBR conditions significantly impact biological systems across scales. In whole-organism models, lake whitefish embryos raised underground exhibited a significant increase in body length and weight, highlighting the unique developmental impacts of the deep-underground environment. Furthermore, recent studies using the CGL1 human hybrid model revealed that prolonged sub-NBR exposure significantly increases alkaline phosphatase activity, a key marker of neoplastic transformation, suggesting NBR may play a regulatory role in suppressing carcinogenesis and maintaining genomic stability.
To determine whether these effects extend to complex human tissues, this project will establish a three-dimensional human intestinal organoid model derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), bridging the gap between conventional cell culture systems and human physiology. We will differentiate iPSCs into self-organizing intestinal epithelium and culture them under three conditions: standard surface controls, underground controls, and a specialized ultra-low radiation (sub-NBR) environment at SNOLAB. Our multi-omic approach evaluates how "radiation hunger" impacts developmental signaling, oxidative balance, and epithelial barrier function. By measuring differentiation rates, transcriptomic responses, and real-time organoid growth dynamics, we aim to determine whether complex tissue architecture increases sensitivity, or promotes resilience, to radiation deprivation. This work challenges traditional dose-response models and explores the possibility that natural radiation may be required to support optimal human health.

Speaker: Dr Rosette Tamaddon

Experiment and Project Reports: Underground Observatories II

37 An Overview of Outer Detector Technologies

Cosmogenic muons are a major background source in rare event search experiments. To mitigate this background, neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ) and direct detection dark matter experiments prefer to operate in deep underground laboratories, where they can receive adequate shielding from cosmic rays. However, high energy muons can still reach underground and create backgrounds for these experiments. To reduce such cosmogenic muon backgrounds, the rare-event search experiments deploy an outer detector to tag the muons. These outer detectors serve both as shielding and as active muon veto systems.An active muon veto detects light produced either by Cherenkov radiation (when the detector is filled with water) or by scintillation (when filled with a scintillating medium). The outer detector is equipped with photon detection modules, such as photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) or silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs), to capture these light signals. Additionally, the outer detector offers passive shielding by moderating secondary neutrons generated from muon interactions. In this talk, I will discuss the requirements for deep underground laboratories and the specifications of outer detectors for both current and next-generation rare-event search experiments.

Speaker: Teena Vallivilayil John (Postdoc)

38 Q&A

39 The HALO Supernova Neutrino Detector

HALO, the Helium and Lead Observatory, has been operating at SNOLAB for fourteen years as a low-maintenance, high-livetime supernova neutrino detector. The HALO detector is principally composed 79 tonnes of lead from a decommissioned cosmic ray station, and is instrumented by 368 m of SNO’s ultra-low activity He-3 neutron counters. Supernova neutrinos interacting with the lead target may produce one or two neutron emission through CC or NC excitation of the lead nuclei. HALO detects these neutrons with an average efficiency of 28% and an extended burst of detected neutrons would be consistent with a galactic supernova explosion. Since October 2015 HALO has been providing low threshold and very low latency supernova alarms to the SuperNova Early Warning System (SNEWS) coincidence servers. The collaboration will present the status of the detector as well as upgrade plans.

Speaker: Tom Sonley (SNOLAB)

40 Q&A

Closing: User Meeting Closeout

A session of closing remarks, summaries, and/or action items