Masayuki Wada

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Degree: Ph.D.

Position: Assistant Professor

Division: Astrocent (Warsaw)

ORCID: 0000-0002-6414-6944

Office:

Phone: +48 221201827

E-mail: masayuki@camk.edu.pl

Masayuki Wada is an experimental physicist serving as an assistant professor at Particle Astrophysics Science and Technology Center (AstroCeNT) at the Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center (CAMK) in Warsaw. He is the leader of the Ultrapure SiPMs and Associated Readout Electronics group at AstroCeNT.


Dr. Wada’s primary research interest focuses on the development of ultra-pure photo-detection devices based on Silicon Photomultipliers for the detection of dark matter, especially Weak Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). The main focus of research is the DarkSide experiment, which is a dark matter direct detection experiment at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS).


He completed his doctorate, where he studied the resonance particles in heavy-ion collisions, in 2018, at the University of Texas at Austin (USA). After that, he moved to Princeton University as a Dicke fellow to work on the WIMP direct detection experiment. After a short stay in Cagliari, Italy, he moved to AstroCeNT in 2019.


The research group led by him works on the development of ultra-pure photo-detection devices based on Silicon Photomultipliers for WIMP direct detection search and neutrinoless double beta decay search in collaboration with researchers abroad such as from Princeton University in the US and National Institute for Nuclear Physics, Italy. The group is also interested in applying our technologies earned in pure science to medical physics such as the Positron Emission Tomography scanner.


Prof. Wada takes part in several collaborations. From 2006 to2014 he was involved in STAR (Solenoidal Tracker at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, RHIC) experiment, since 2013 he works on the dark matter project seeking to directly detect dark matter in the form of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), DarkSide, and in 2014 he joined SABRE (Sodium Iodide with Active Background Rejection Experiment) collaboration.


A list of his publications can be found in the service ORCiD.


Since 2016 he has been mentoring summer, undergraduate and Ph.D. students. Currently, he is a supervisor of Iftikhar Ahmad and Paules Zakhary, both affiliated with AstroCeNT and CAMK.


Research interests
  • dark matter,
  • neutrinos,
  • beyond the Standard Model,
  • noble liquid detectors.

Grants / Scientific projects
Prof. Wada directs the following projects:
  • “Development of the Most Sensitive Dark Matter Detector with Liquid Argon” (2022-2026). Funding information: SONATA BIS project, NCN (2021/42/E/ST2/00331),
  • “A Liquid Argon Positron Emission Tomography (LArPET) Scanner” (2020-2021). Funding information: grant from Fondazione CON IL SUD (2018-PDR-001005).
He is also a participant in the below project:
  • DarkWave: Novel technologies for dark matter search and frontier astroparticle physics experiments” (2020-2023). Funding information: EU Horizon 2020 (Twinning grant, 952480). PI is Prof. Marcin Kuźniak.

Awards / Honors
  • INFN Post-doctoral Fellowship for non-italian citizens (2018).
  • Dicke Fellowship at the Princeton University, USA (2013).