Speaker
Description
The MINER experiment used a set of sub-100 eV sapphire detectors operated at a 1 MW TRIGA reactor at Texas A&M University to search for reactor CENNS and axion/axion-like particles (ALP). The experiment experienced high levels of low energy excess (LEE) below 500 eV and was unable to achieve the required significance for detection. The experiment is currently being moved to the High-Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) reactor at Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL) for a 100 times improvement in flux and almost an order of magnitude improvement in duty cycle. With the lessons learned in reactor induced background and LEE-excess, MINER will implement improved shielding and several detector upgrades that address the LEE constraints, for an expected detection within a short time of operation and precision neutrino physics in a multi-year operation.