Welcome to SABRE South
SABRE South is a dark matter direct-detection experiment. Its goal is to search for a hypothesised type of particle which may constitute dark matter, the mysterious and elusive material that makes up about 23% of the mass-energy of the universe- around five times as much as the matter that we can see.
It will search for WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles), one type of candidate dark matter (DM) particle. Other potential areas of investigation, utilising the experiment in parallel with its dark matter search, are being examined.
The experiment will be located deep underground in the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL), situated in a cavern in the Stawell Gold Mine in Victoria, Australia. Installation of equipment began in October 2023.
Member institutions
Australian National University
Swinburne University of Technology
Public Wiki
All publicly-accessible information may be found here.
Links
SABRE experiment : (SABRE North and the full SABRE collaboration)
Centre for Dark Matter Particle Physics : Australia’s national Centre for investigating the nature of dark matter
Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory : the host location for SABRE South
In the media
August 23rd 2026 : Article in The Canberra Times about crystals for SABRE South (requires subscription or valid login).
October 10th, 2025 : An online ABC article on SABRE South.
January 21st, 2024 : Mike Mews was interviewed on 3RRR radio in Melbourne, in the “Einstein A Go-Go” programme. You may listen to the interview here, and it starts at 27’10” in.
April 2023 : ABC “Catalyst” episode, “The Dark Side of the Universe”, featuring SABRE South and SUPL. Available for viewing on ABC iView.
January 24th, 2023 : Interview with Irene Bolognino in Cosmos.
June 2nd, 2022 : Popular science and engineering video channel Veritasium has produced a video on the search for dark matter, featuring SABRE South and SUPL. The video excellently covers material discussed in the “Background” section of this website, as well as the experiment and lab themselves.
News
October 2026 : A great deal of work has taken place in SUPL in the last several months. Significantly, the steel shielding has started to arrive, and recent efforts have seen the base plates cleaned and installed. Efforts away from SUPL also have been considerable; continued testing of PMTs and associated electronics, development of cleaning protocols, calibration systems, progress on DAQ hardware and software, operational software and databases… Two small high-purity test crystals have just arrived, in anticipation of further testing.
June 2026 : An interactive virtual tour of SUPL is available at the SUPL website.
January 2026 : After much recent (and continuing) activity, progess in SUPL continues apace. The clean tent has undergone operational tests, and shows good radon reduction; PMT tests have taken place in the steel testing “coffin”; the gas control panel has been installed; the crystal glovebox has been tested.
September 2025 : A 7kg test crystal (non-Astrograde) has arrived in Melbourne from SICCAS. The main clean room (to be used for crystal qualification, and crystal module assembly) has been put together in SUPL.
August 2025 : The Crystal Insertion System frame and glovebox, the crystal module assembly glovebox, and a dry box have been delivered to SUPL. A small clean tent has been assembled, and tests indicate that a good radon concentration of around 12 Bq/m3 is maintained within. Steel plates for the main vessel shielding fabrication has arrived at Thornton’s.
Events
Wednesday, August 2nd, 2023 : Irene Bolognino (U. Adelaide) gave a public lecture on dark matter and SABRE, for the Astronomical Society of South Australia (in-person and on YouTube). Please see here to view a recording of the lecture.
Friday, August 19th, 2022 : Official opening of SUPL.