Radio Phased Arrays for the Detection of Ultra-High Energy Neutrinos

• Published in: EPJ Web of Conferences
• Main Author: Oberla Eric
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: EDP Sciences 2019
• Subjects: Physics; QC1-999; Austral; South Pole; South pole
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/201921604008; https://doaj.org/article/9bc88c91fbd949d494b3710ea57ab19b

Ground-based radio arrays offer a promising future for the measurement of ultra-high energy neutrinos, including the prospect of reducing the radio-detection energy threshold to a level necessary to overlap with the high-energy range probed by IceCube (~1016 eV). Here we describe a phased array of antennas and beamforming electronics, which serves as a highly sensitive and directional trigger system for nanosecond-scale plane wave impulses. A prototype in-ice phased array was successfully installed during the 2017/18 austral summer at the South Pole in collaboration with the Askaryan Radio Array (ARA). The trigger array is a compact string of 7 in-ice dipole antennas deployed at a depth of 200 m, whose signals are continuously digitized at the surface using 1.5 GSa/s ADCs with 7-bit resolution. We measure a 50% trigger efficiency on band-limited impulses with signal-to-noise ratios of 2.0 or smaller.