Hands on CUORE ABSuRD: Characterisation of a Silicon Photomultiplier at Low Temperatures

The expected main background contribution in the CUORE experiment is attributed to detector surface contamination with alpha-emitters. To suppress this background, a rejection mechanism employing scintillator foils (the ABSuRD detector) is under development. The optimal operation temperature for a Silicon photomultiplier to characterize candidate scintillator materials was determined and noise sources were characterized.