Dark matter searches with the ArDM detector

The goal of the ArDM project is to develop and operate a detector to search for direct evidence of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMP) as Dark Matter in the Universe. The technical design of the detector aims at independently measuring the scintillation light and the ionization charge generated by the recoil of argon nuclei after the WIMP collision. A Large Electron Multiplier system is used to collect the charge while an array of photo multipliers detects the light. A 1-ton prototype is currently developed with the goal of demonstrating the feasibility of such a direct detection experiment with large target mass. The principle of the experiment and the conceptual design of the detector are described.