Ice Cube Laboratory (ICL) is a huge new
neutrino detector which, when finished, will occupy approximately one
cubic kilometre. The IceCube drillers drilled about 80 holes 2.5 kilometres deep, and dropped strings of detectors
into the holes that are so sensitive they will register a single photon.
There are one kilometre of sensors, then another 1.5 km of cable
to the surface.
By going this far deep, they get to some
very clear ice, which allows the whole thing to work. The detectors
can detect extremely small flashes of light that occur when a neutrino
hits something in the ice, and can determine if that neutrino was travelling
up (through the earth from the northern hemisphere), or down. Using
this knowledge, and using the earth itself as a filter, they can measure
a particular type of neutrino which they are looking for. This building
is where all the cables run to, where the computers and offices are.
Nov 2007
