British scientists and engineers have reached a remarkable milestone in one of the world’s most ambitious physics experiments, with UK-built technology set to play a crucial role in answering one of science’s greatest mysteries: why does our Universe exist as we know it?
A team at the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s (STFC) Daresbury Laboratory in Cheshire has completed half of the 137 enormous particle detectors Britain is responsible for producing as part of the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE).
The achievement represents another significant contribution from British science and engineering to a project that could transform humanity’s understanding of the Universe.
Once operational, DUNE will fire a beam of elusive subatomic particles called neutrinos across 1,300 kilometres of the United States, from Fermilab in Illinois to a vast underground detector in South Dakota.
Scientists hope the experiment will help explain why matter dominates over antimatter, a fundamental mystery dating back to the origins of the Universe.
And at the heart of this extraordinary scientific undertaking will be precision-engineered equipment manufactured here in Britain.
British engineering at its finest
At Daresbury Laboratory, a specialist team of just 25 technicians is manufacturing giant instruments known as Anode Plane Assemblies (APAs).
Each measures approximately 6.3 metres high and 2.3 metres wide, making them roughly the height of a two-storey building.
But their size tells only part of the story.
Every assembly contains around 24 kilometres of incredibly fine copper-beryllium wire, carefully positioned and secured using thousands of precision connections.
These intricate instruments will detect electrical signals generated when neutrinos interact with liquid argon inside the experiment’s enormous underground detector.
The measurements will allow researchers to reconstruct particle interactions and investigate the behaviour of neutrinos, particles so elusive that they can pass through ordinary matter with barely any interaction.
Britain is responsible for producing 137 of the 150 assemblies required for the experiment’s first far detector, making the UK one of its principal technology contributors.
The scale and precision of the work highlight the specialist manufacturing expertise and scientific capability that Britain continues to bring to major international research programmes.
A nationwide British effort
The achievement is not confined to one laboratory.
Researchers and engineers from Lancaster University, the University of Liverpool, Imperial College London, the University of Manchester, the University of Sheffield and the University of Sussex are contributing components, testing, quality assurance and scientific expertise.
They form part of the wider DUNE-UK collaboration, involving 14 universities and two national laboratories.
British specialists are also contributing to the experiment’s computing, software, detector systems and accelerator infrastructure.
Ian Lazarus, Head of Technology at STFC’s Daresbury Laboratory, praised the achievement.
“Reaching the halfway point on APA production is a fantastic milestone for everyone involved,” he said.
“These are exceptionally large and technically demanding detector components, and getting to this stage reflects the skill, care and teamwork that has gone into every part of the programme.”
He said the progress reflected a genuinely UK-wide effort, with engineers and university teams working together on an exceptionally challenging scientific project.
Solving one of the Universe’s greatest mysteries
One of the greatest unanswered questions in modern physics concerns the apparent imbalance between matter and antimatter.
According to current scientific understanding, matter and antimatter should have been produced in almost equal quantities in the early Universe.
Yet the observable Universe is overwhelmingly dominated by matter.
Understanding how this imbalance developed could provide important new insights into the fundamental laws of physics.
Neutrinos may hold part of the answer.
These almost massless particles are among the most abundant in the Universe, yet they interact so rarely with other matter that detecting them presents an immense scientific challenge.
DUNE will study how neutrinos and their antimatter counterparts, antineutrinos, change as they travel over vast distances.
By comparing their behaviour, scientists hope to identify differences that could contribute to explaining why matter survived in such abundance.
The experiment will also investigate neutrinos produced by exploding stars, known as supernovae, potentially revealing further information about some of the most powerful events in the cosmos.
The detector in South Dakota will sit nearly a mile underground, shielding its highly sensitive equipment from cosmic rays and other interference.
It will contain tens of thousands of tonnes of liquid argon, allowing scientists to detect the faint electrical signatures of otherwise almost invisible particle interactions.
British technology heading across the Atlantic
The project is already moving beyond the laboratory.
Eight completed British-built assemblies have arrived at Fermilab in the United States for final testing before their eventual installation in South Dakota.
Production of the remaining British assemblies is scheduled to finish by May 2029, with deliveries for installation planned from November 2029.
Professor Dave Newbold, co-spokesperson of the DUNE collaboration and formerly a senior leader at STFC, welcomed the milestone.
“The APA team have accomplished a huge milestone by reaching the halfway point in their production,” he said.
He described the British-built components as central to the detector and essential to achieving the experiment’s scientific ambitions.
Professor Newbold also highlighted the contributions being made by workers across British industry, laboratories and universities.
Justin Evans, of the University of Manchester, who leads the DUNE-UK APA project, described the achievement as a major step towards making the experiment a reality.
“We are building a detector with the potential to answer some of the deepest questions in particle physics,” he said.
DUNE, he added, will be among the world’s leading neutrino experiments.
A reminder of Britain’s scientific excellence
From the laboratories of Cheshire to the universities contributing specialist research and equipment, the DUNE project demonstrates the continuing international importance of British scientific expertise.
Although the experiment itself is being constructed in America, much of the technology required to unlock its discoveries is being manufactured by British technicians and developed with the support of British researchers.
The achievement also highlights the importance of advanced engineering skills, precision manufacturing and long-term scientific research, areas in which the United Kingdom has a distinguished history.
With more than half of Britain’s contribution now built, the project is another example of the country helping to push the boundaries of human knowledge.
And when scientists eventually begin uncovering new clues about the origins and fundamental nature of our Universe, some of the instruments making those discoveries possible will have been proudly built in Britain.
Source: Science and Technology Facilities Council, UK Research and Innovation, 19 October 2026.
Image: For illustration purposes.
