arXiv subjects

Rafsan Rabbi

Publications and source records attributed to Rafsan Rabbi.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Single-electron detection in a high-purity Ge device

High-purity germanium (HPGe) detectors are among the most powerful instruments for gamma ray spectroscopy, combining exceptional energy resolution with large active volumes. Although they operate close to the fundamental resolution limit at high energies, their performance at very low energies has long been limited by electronic noise, restricting detection thresholds to above approximately 30 electron-hole pairs ($\sim$100 eV). Here we introduce a cryogenic HPGe detector architecture that achieves single electron-hole pair sensitivity by calorimetrically measuring ionization at temperatures near 20 mK. The device integrates a NbSi transition-edge sensor into a point-contact-inspired geometry, concentrating athermal phonon energy generated during charge drift and enabling eV-scale sensitivity ultimately set by the semiconductor band gap. Beyond single-charge detection, the device rejects the low-energy excess background that limits existing cryogenic low-threshold technologies, establishing a pathway towards discrimination between electron- and nuclear-recoil events below 100 eV. These advances open a route towards next-generation detectors for direct dark matter searches, coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering, and nuclear reactor monitoring for non-proliferation applications.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2022

The water entry surface seal behavior of spheres at intermediate speed regimes

This research focuses on the water entry of spheres in the surface seal regime. Herein, surface seal occurs in the wake of a sphere impact with the water surface and is characterized by splash dome over and cavity pull-away between the \emph{low-speed} ($U<30$~m/s) and \emph{high-speed} ($U>165$~m/s) regimes for various sphere diameters $D$. The established empirical scaling laws for pinch-off time $t_p$ hold well for both low and high speeds (i.e., respectively $ t_pUD^{-1}~C_d^{-1/2}=const$ and $ t_pUD^{-1}~C_d^{-1/2}\propto Ca^{-1}$) but the transition deserves refinement. The intermediate regime in particular scales as $t_pUD^{-1}~C_d^{-1/2}\propto Ca^{-1/2}$, which means that the pressure reduction inside the cavity determines the surface seal dynamics as speeds increase. We also report on the transition from deep to surface seal, where the seal time is scaled more like a deep seal. The partial pull-away, ripples on the cavity surface, and the secondary pinch-off are also reported.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2020

Impact force reduction by consecutive water entry of spheres

Free-falling objects impacting onto water pools experience a very high initial impact force, greatest at the moment when breaking through the free surface. Many have intuitively wondered whether throwing another object in front of an important object (like oneself) before impacting the water surface may reduce this high impact force. Here, we test this idea experimentally by allowing two spheres to consecutively enter the water and measuring the forces on the trailing sphere. We find that the impact acceleration reduction on the trailing sphere depends on the dynamics of the cavity created by the first sphere and the relative timing of the second sphere impact. These combined effects are captured by the non-dimensional `Matryoshka' number, which classifies the observed phenomena into four major regimes. In three of these regimes, we find that the impact acceleration on the second sphere is reduced by up to 78\% relative to impact on a quiescent water surface. Surprisingly, in one of the regimes, the force on the trailing sphere is dramatically increased by more than 400\% in the worst case observed. We explain how the various stages of cavity evolution result in the observed alterations in impact force in this multi-body water entry problem.

physics.flu-dyn↗