LiquidO: Neutrino Detection and Imaging in Opaque Media

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Navas-Nicolás, Diana, Girard-Carillo, Cloé, Schoppmann, Stefan
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
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author Navas-Nicolás, Diana
Girard-Carillo, Cloé
Schoppmann, Stefan
author_facet Navas-Nicolás, Diana
Girard-Carillo, Cloé
Schoppmann, Stefan
contents For several decades now, scintillator detectors have found a wide range of applications in particle physics, including neutrino detection, the search for dark matter and even medical imaging. These detectors so far have strongly relied on the transparency of the scintillating medium, through which light is typically propagated to surrounding photosensors. In this work, we present the results of a 10 litre prototype based on a novel detection approach where an opaque scintillator medium is used to confine light near its creation point that is then collected by a grid of wavelength-shifting fibres traversing the detector. The prototype is operated with different media, including the novel opaque scintillator NoWaSH whose scattering length varies with temperature. Our results progressively demonstrate the temperature-dependent stochastic confinement of the light, with 90% (80%) of the light being confined within a radius of 5 cm (4 cm) when the scattering length is on the order of a few millimetres. The results also demonstrate the pulse shape resolution of our setup capable of resolving Cherenkov and scintillation light. Altogether, the observations match the performance expected for this new type of detector, whose capabilities are expected to include the imaging of particle interactions down to MeV-energies.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_11319
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle LiquidO: Neutrino Detection and Imaging in Opaque Media
Navas-Nicolás, Diana
Girard-Carillo, Cloé
Schoppmann, Stefan
Instrumentation and Detectors
For several decades now, scintillator detectors have found a wide range of applications in particle physics, including neutrino detection, the search for dark matter and even medical imaging. These detectors so far have strongly relied on the transparency of the scintillating medium, through which light is typically propagated to surrounding photosensors. In this work, we present the results of a 10 litre prototype based on a novel detection approach where an opaque scintillator medium is used to confine light near its creation point that is then collected by a grid of wavelength-shifting fibres traversing the detector. The prototype is operated with different media, including the novel opaque scintillator NoWaSH whose scattering length varies with temperature. Our results progressively demonstrate the temperature-dependent stochastic confinement of the light, with 90% (80%) of the light being confined within a radius of 5 cm (4 cm) when the scattering length is on the order of a few millimetres. The results also demonstrate the pulse shape resolution of our setup capable of resolving Cherenkov and scintillation light. Altogether, the observations match the performance expected for this new type of detector, whose capabilities are expected to include the imaging of particle interactions down to MeV-energies.
title LiquidO: Neutrino Detection and Imaging in Opaque Media
topic Instrumentation and Detectors
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.11319