Creighton Mine, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada · founded 2009
SNOLAB
One of the world's deepest underground research facilities, occupying approximately 5,000 m² of expanded and purpose-built caverns at the 2 km level of Vale's Creighton nickel mine. The original SNO heavy-water experiment evolved into a multi-experiment infrastructure operational since 2009.
On this page
Focus
Deep underground research facility at 2 km depth, hosting experiments on neutrino physics, dark matter, and low-background nuclear physics. Grew from the original Sudbury Neutrino Observatory.
Visit the institution website →
Depth and infrastructure
SNOLAB sits at a flat-overburden depth of 6,010 metres-water-equivalent — the deepest Class 2000 underground laboratory in the world. The muon flux is suppressed by a factor of relative to the surface, enabling experiments with extreme radioactive-background sensitivity.
Access is via a 6 km drift from a mine shaft, with cleanliness protocols (shower-in, clean garments) maintained throughout. Approximately 30 research groups operate at the site.
Current experiments
- SNO+: 800 t of scintillator loaded with tellurium for neutrinoless-double-beta-decay searches in Te
- DEAP-3600: single-phase liquid argon dark-matter detector, 3.6 t target
- SuperCDMS: cryogenic germanium and silicon crystals for low-mass WIMP searches
- PICO: bubble-chamber dark-matter searches
- HALO: lead-based supernova-neutrino detector optimized for νe sensitivity (complementary to Super-K’s ν̄e sensitivity)
- NEWS-G: spherical proportional counter for light dark matter
Significance
SNOLAB extends and diversifies the physics program initiated by SNO in the 1990s. Its depth advantage makes it particularly valuable for rare-event searches where external radiation suppression is paramount. The site is a cornerstone of the Canadian particle-astrophysics program and a major international facility for the dark-matter, double-beta, and supernova-neutrino communities.