Dark matter searches: Technology and backgrounds

The current status of direct dark matter searches is reviewed, with special emphasis on the effect of various backgrounds to the sensitivity attainable by this technology. The current leader in sensitivity is the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search, now operating at the Soudan Underground Laboratory in Minnesota. The next generation of larger and more sensitive detectors will require ever more radiopure materials and access to screening facilities to ensure rapid turn-around in decisions based on material selection and fabrication modification. Recent surveys collected from the DUSEL working groups point to a tripling in screening needs, many of which require an overburden. Low background counting facilities should be established at existing underground sites and integration of their complementary strengths would ensure that new techniques in dark matter, solar neutrino, and neutrinoless double beta decay have the resources they need to build ton-scale detectors.