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Abstract

Cryogenic Rare Event Search with Superconducting Thermometers (CRESST) is a long-standing direct dark matter detection experiment with cryogenic detectors located at the underground facility Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy. CRESST-III, the third generation of CRESST, was specifically designed to have a world-leading sensitivity for low-mass dark matter (DM) (less than 2 GeV/c2) to probe the spin-independent DM-nucleus cross section. At present, a large part of the parameter space for spin-independent scattering off nuclei remains untested for dark matter particles with masses below few GeV/c2 although many motivated theoretical models having been proposed. The CRESST-III experiment employs scintillating CaWO4 crystals of 25 g as target material for dark matter interactions operated as cryogenic scintillating calorimeters at 10 mK. CRESST-III first data taking was successfully completed in 2018, achieving an unprecedented energy threshold for nuclear recoils. This result extended the present sensitivity to DM particles as light as 160 MeV/c2. In this paper, an overview of the CRESST-III detectors and results will be presented.