Prospects for DAMA/LIBRA and beyond

As a result of about five years of new developments, the second-generation LIBRA (Large sodium Iodide Bulk for RAre processes) set-up of the DAMA experiment has been realized and installed in the Gran Sasso National Laboratory of the I.N.F.N.. It is made of ≃250 kg low-background NaI(Tl) detectors and has been operative since March 2003. It works as an observatory for rare processes and is mainly devoted to further investigation on the dark matter particle component in the galactic halo. New R&D efforts toward a possible NaI(Tl) ton set-up, which we proposed in 1996, have been funded and started in 2003.