The DAMA experiment's long-standing claim of dark matter detection remains a key open issue in astroparticle physics. Independent verification requires NaI(Tl)-based detectors with enhanced low-energy sensitivity. Current detectors rely on photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) which features limited detection efficiency, intrinsic radioactivity, and high noise at keV energies. ASTAROTH is an R&D project that developed a proof of concept NaI(Tl) detector where siliconphotomultipliers (SiPMs) have been used instead of PMTs, offering higher photon detection efficiency, negligible radioactivity, and, most of all, a reduction of two orders of magnitude in the dark noise. The setup includes a custom cryostat operating at approximately 80 K. We report the first characterization of an approximately 360 g NaI(Tl) crystal coupled to a 5 x 5 cm SiPM matrix, yielding 4.5 photoelectrons\keV after crosstalk correction. This promising result demonstrates the feasibility of SiPM-based readout for NaI(Tl) and paves the way for future large-scale dark matter experiments.
@article{arxiv.2510.24418,
title = {ASTAROTH: A Novel Detector for Dark Matter Direct Detection Using Cryogenic SiPMs},
author = {Edoardo Martinenghi and Valerio Toso and Fabrizio Bruno Armani and Andrea Castoldi and Giuseppe Di Carlo and Luca Frontini and Niccolò Gallice and Chiara Guazzoni and Valentino Liberali and Lorenzo Rutigliani and Alberto Stabile and Krzysztof Szczepaniec and Valeria Trabattoni and Andrea Zani and Davide D'Angelo},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2510.24418},
year = {2025}
}