Calibration of the DRIFT (Direction Recoil Identification From Tracks) detector

Abstract

In order to detect a form of dark matter known as Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), Professor Snowden-Ifft of Occidental College created the Direction Recoil Identification From Tracks (DRIFT) detector. For my summer research I attempted to calibrate the detector by analyzing data created by recoils from a beam of monoenergetic neutrons created at Caltech.