| P-type point-contact (P-PC) germanium detectors present an exciting detector technology, yielding sub-keV thresholds and intrinsically-low electronic noise. Characteristics of the detectors enhance their background-rejection capabilities for experiments searching for neutrinoless double-beta decay in 76Ge and, as such, the MAJORANA experiment will deploy a DEMONSTRATOR module with arrayed P-PCs. In addition, these same qualities make the detectors sensitive to direct dark matter detection. The consecutive deployment of two P-PC detectors underground at Soudan Underground Laboratory is presented, providing results and conclusions about low-energy backgrounds and data-acquisition requirements at low energies. Data from the lower-background detector is used to generate limits on the spin-independent nuclear recoil of low-mass ( ≲ 10 GeV) WIMPs as well as on the strength of the axion-electron coupling. Finally, a contextual discussion of these results is given, focusing on estimating the sensitivity of the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR to detect dark matter. |
