- Couturier, C
- Guillaudin, O
- Naraghi, F
- Riffard, Q
- Santos, D
- Sauzet, N
- Colas, P
- Ribas, EF
- Giomataris, I
- Busto, J
- Fouchez, D
- Tao, C
- Zhou, N
- et al.
Particles weakly interacting with ordinary matter, with an associated mass of
the order of an atomic nucleus (WIMPs), are plausible candidates for Dark
Matter. The direct detection of an elastic collision of a target nuclei induced
by one of these WIMPs has to be discriminated from the signal produced by the
neutrons, which leaves the same signal in a detector. The MIMAC (MIcro-tpc
MAtrix of Chambers) collaboration has developed an original prototype detector
which combines a large pixelated Micromegas coupled with a fast,
self-triggering, electronics. Aspects of the two-chamber module in operation in
the Modane Underground Laboratory are presented: calibration, characterization
of the $^{222}$Rn progeny. A new test bench combining a MIMAC chamber with the
COMIMAC portable quenching line has been set up to characterize the 3D tracks
of low energy ions in the MIMAC gas mixture: the preliminary results thereof
are presented. Future steps are briefly discussed.