Ionization Laser Calibration for the DUNE Time Projection Chamber

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) will study neutrino oscillations and consist of a near detector at Fermilab and a far detector located 1,480 meters underground and 1300 km away in Lead, South Dakota. The far detector will consist of four Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (TPC) modules intersecting the neutrino beam produced at Fermilab. DUNE will measure charge-parity violation in neutrinos, a possible mechanism allowing for matter-antimatter asymmetry to arise. At 17 kilotonnes per module, DUNE’s TPCs will be the largest of their kind, resulting in new instrumentation challenges. As TPCs grow in size, new techniques are required to ensure accurate position and energy reconstruction. DUNE will require fine-grained measurement of detector response parameters such as electric field distortions, electron drift velocity, and defects such as cathode-anode misalignment. DUNE’s Ionization Laser (IoLaser) system is an effort to resolve these issues, intending to provide known-position signals into the detector cryostat. In this talk, I will discuss calibration challenges for DUNE and present an overview of the IoLaser system, including progress on current prototyping efforts for deployment in the ProtoDUNE run-2 cycle.