English

The Wavelength-shifting Optical Module (WOM) for the IceCube Upgrade

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena 2021-07-22 v1 Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics

Abstract

The Wavelength-shifting Optical Module (WOM) is a novel optical sensor that uses wavelength shifting and light guiding to substantially enhance the photosensitive area of UV optical modules. It has been designed for the IceCube Upgrade, a seven-string extension of the IceCube detector planned for the 2022/2023 South Pole deployment season. The WOM consists of a hollow quartz cylinder coated in wavelength shifting paint which serves as detection area and has two photomultipliers (PMTs) attached to the end faces. The light-collecting tube increases the effective photocathode area of the PMTs without producing additional dark current, making it suitable for low-signal, low-noise applications. We report on the design and performance of the WOM with a focus on the 12 modules in production for deployment in the IceCube Upgrade. While the WOM will be deployed in IceCube, its design is applicable to any large-volume particle detector based on the detection of Cherenkov light.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2107.10194,
  title  = {The Wavelength-shifting Optical Module (WOM) for the IceCube Upgrade},
  author = {John Rack-Helleis and Anna Pollmann and Martin Rongen},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2107.10194},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

Presented at the 37th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC 2021). See arXiv:2107.06966 for all IceCube contributions

R2 v1 2026-06-24T04:24:14.671Z