51�Թ�

The detector records flashes of light created as particles hit atomic nuclei in a highly purified sodium iodide crystal.

Direct-detection experiments aim to find the faint after-effects of WIMPs colliding with the nuclei of atoms in materials such as germanium, silicon or sodium iodide inside a detector.

Hyunsu Lee, a physicist at the Institute for Basic Science in Daejeon, says that had DAMA’s signal disappeared in the new data, it would have dampened motivation for carrying out further sodium iodide experiments.

For accurate mass determination sodium iodide was used for lockmass correction.

These targets, such as xenon and sodium iodide, are cooled to close to absolute zero to make it easier to spot the small amounts of energy transferred from dark to ordinary matter.