ZEPLIN

ZEPLIN (for Zoned Proportional Scintillation in Liquid Noble Gases) is a name used for a series of experiments aiming to detect dark matter, in particular, some theorized WIMPs. The method is to detect electromagnetic radiation from a noble gas (specifically, xenon) and the detector consists of a tank of such an element, but cooled to its liquid state. Noble gases are of particular use because of the EMR they produce from very small interactions with other particles. The term WIMP represents a particle presumed to have a very small cross section for interactions with baryonic matter and the more gas in the detector, the more such interactions would occur. Shielding against as many "normal" particles as practical is advantageous. Very sensitive photometers, e.g., photomultiplier tubes are used to detect any resulting EMR.

Four such experiments have been titled with the acronym ZEPLIN: ZEPLIN-I, ZEPLIN-II, ZEPLIN-III in England, and LUX-ZEPLIN (aka LZ) in the USA, this latter also being a follow-on to the earlier LUX (Large Underground Xenon experiment). These have not found WIMPs but have yielded evidence regarding which cross sections are possible.