[en] Liquified noble gases are widely used as a target in direct Dark Matter searches. Signals from scintillation in the liquid, following energy deposition from the recoil nuclei scattered by Dark Matter particles (e.g. WIMPs), should be recorded down to very low energies by photosensors suitably designed to operate at cryogenic temperatures. Liquid Argon based detectors for Dark Matter searches currently implement photomultiplier tubes for signal read-out. In the last few years PMTs with photocathodes operating down to liquid Argon temperatures (87 K) have been specially developed with increasing Quantum Efficiency characteristics. The most recent of these, Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. Mod. R11065 with peak QE up to about 35%, has been extensively tested within the R and D program of the WArP Collaboration. During these tests the Hamamatsu PMTs showed excellent performance and allowed obtaining a light yield around 7 phel/keV_ee in a Liquid Argon detector with a photocathodic coverage in the 12% range, sufficient for detection of events down to few keV_ee of energy deposition. This shows that this new type of PMT is suited for experimental applications, in particular for new direct Dark Matter searches with LAr-based experiments.

[en] The NEMO Phase-2 tower is the first detector which was operated underwater for more than 1 year at the ''record'' depth of 3500 m. It was designed and built within the framework of the NEMO (NEutrino Mediterranean Observatory) project. The 380 m high tower was successfully installed in March 2013 80 km offshore Capo Passero (Italy). This is the first prototype operated on the site where the Italian node of the KM3NeT neutrino telescope will be built. The installation and operation of the NEMO Phase-2 tower has proven the functionality of the infrastructure and the operability at 3500 m depth. A more than 1 year long monitoring of the deep water characteristics of the site has been also provided. In this paper the infrastructure and the tower structure and instrumentation are described. The results of long term optical background measurements are presented. The rates show stable and low baseline values, compatible with the contribution of "4"0K light emission, with a small percentage of light bursts due to bioluminescence. All these features confirm the stability and good optical properties of the site. (orig.)

[en] The first prototype of a photo-detection unit of the future KM3NeT neutrino telescope has been deployed in the deep waters of the Mediterranean Sea. This digital optical module has a novel design with a very large photocathode area segmented by the use of 31 three inch photomultiplier tubes. It has been integrated in the ANTARES detector for in-situ testing and validation. This paper reports on the first months of data taking and rate measurements. The analysis results highlight the capabilities of the new module design in terms of background suppression and signal recognition. The directionality of the optical module enables the recognition of multiple Cherenkov photons from the same ⁴⁰K decay and the localisation of bioluminescent activity in the neighbourhood. The single unit can cleanly identify atmospheric muons and provide sensitivity to the muon arrival directions. (orig.)