Machine used to detect dark matter to be tested at SNOLAB

The hunt for mysterious dark matter in our universe continues with another experiment planned for Sudbury's SNOLAB.

Ken Clark, a professor with Queen's University, has received $190,000 in federal funding to develop and build a Scintillating Bubble Chamber experiment at SNOLAB.

The lab, located two kilometres below the surface in Vale's Creighton Mine, specializes in neutrino and dark matter physics.

"We know [dark matter] is in the universe, but we have not managed to find it yet," Clark said.

Clark says the chamber looks likes somewhat of a big jar of shimmering bubbles.

"So as particles will come through you'll just see the flashes of light as they interact with the particles in our detector and every once in a while you'll see a bubble start to form," he said.

"The Scintillating Bubble Chamber adds another dimension. Basically, it means that we can tell the difference between what our interactions we understand and what are the new interactions we're searching for."

Clark says SNOLAB is the ideal place to do this experience as it is the "deepest, cleanest lab" in the world.

He says this experiment is all about figuring out what the universe is made of.

"Right now, we think we only understand about five per cent of the energy in the universe and the dark matter is about 25 per cent so it's even more than the matter we understand," he said.

"This is fundamental knowledge we should have. We should be able to understand the universe as a whole and these types of projects are what are leading us to this understanding."

Clark says he will test the machine at SNOLAB next year.