Scientific Experiments
Pyhäsalmi mine has been home to many experiments during its history. First scientific experiments were already conducted in the mid 1990´s. The deep underground mine provides excellent shielding from cosmic rays and the early research topics have been related astroparticle physics. The scientific work, started with physics research, has now expanded to research projects in multiple fields including biology, geosciences, chemistry, mining technology and underground construction and architecture.
FUTURE
The unique research infrastructure provides possibilities that we don´t even know yet. What kind of research arrangements do You have in mind?
Callio Lab is a co-ordinator of the research community utilising the underground facilities of Callio for scientific research. To learn more about different possibilities within Callio Lab please follow the link to contact us. For new experimental proposal follow the link below to download a propose an experiment -document.
CURRENT
EMMA
EMMA – Experiment with a MultiMuon Array – consists of an apparatus to study the composition of cosmic ray induced muon particles. The experiment is located at the depth of 75 m (corresponding to 240 metres water equivalent m.w.e.). The array consists of eleven detector stations of an area of 15 square meters each. Three of the stations (C, F, G) are so called tracking stations with three layers of position sensitive drift chambers and a layer of small-size plastic scintillation detectors.
The experiment is maintained in cooperation between the Universities of Oulu, Jyväskylä and Aarhus, and Institutes of Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg and Moscow.
The drift chambers are originally designed for the DELPHI experiment of the LEP accelerator at CERN. The scintillation detectors are designed specifically for EMMA to improve the multiplicity measurement and they are manufactured by RAS/INR, Moscow.
C14
The collaboration behind C14-experiment included the Universities of Oulu and Jyväskylä and the Russian Academy of Sciences. The experiment is a measurement apparatus to study the radioactive purity of liquid scintillator samples in respect with the concentration of 14C isotope in an oil-based liquid scintillator.
The C14 Experiment has been used to test samples from several major neutrino detector laboratories such as Laboratorio Nazionale del Gran Sasso, SNOLAB or JianPing Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO). The goal of the experiment is to push the detection limit of 14C concentrations down to 10E-20 or less.
The instrument for the concentration measurements requires and extremely low-background environment and components and it is situated in Lab2 at the depth of 1 430 meters.
The instrument consists of a liquid scintillator sample of 1.6 liters, two light guides and photomultiplier tubes. They are surrounded by thick layers of pure copper and lead as radiation shielding against gamma radiation. In addition, the instrument stays in constant compressed air/ nitrogen flow to reduce radon background.
PAST
The activities in the Pyhäsalmi Mine started under the Centre for Underground Physics in Pyhäsalmi, CUPP. Since 2001, the depth and time-dependence were measured with a cosmic-ray experiment MUG. The experiment was carried out by Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory of the University of Oulu and Turku University. In the years 2003-2005, the measurements of depth dependency of muon flux were continued with the MUD-experiment. Measurements of background (such as radon, neutron and gamma) have been carried out in specific locations.
