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author Araujo, Gabriela A.
Baudis, Laura
Bowden, Nathaniel
Chapman, Jordan
Erickson, Anna
Perez, Mariano Guerrero
Hecht, Adam A.
Hedges, Samuel C.
Huber, Patrick
Ivanov, Vsevolod
Jovanovic, Igor
Khodaparast, Giti A.
Magill, Brenden A.
Mateos, Jose Maria
Morrison, Maverick
Smith, Nicholas W. G.
Stengel, Patrick
Surani, Stuti
Vladimirov, Nikita
Walkup, Keegan
Wittweg, Christian
Zhang, Xianyi
author_facet Araujo, Gabriela A.
Baudis, Laura
Bowden, Nathaniel
Chapman, Jordan
Erickson, Anna
Perez, Mariano Guerrero
Hecht, Adam A.
Hedges, Samuel C.
Huber, Patrick
Ivanov, Vsevolod
Jovanovic, Igor
Khodaparast, Giti A.
Magill, Brenden A.
Mateos, Jose Maria
Morrison, Maverick
Smith, Nicholas W. G.
Stengel, Patrick
Surani, Stuti
Vladimirov, Nikita
Walkup, Keegan
Wittweg, Christian
Zhang, Xianyi
contents We present initial results on nuclear recoil detection based on the fluorescence of color centers created by nuclear recoils in lithium fluoride. We use gamma rays, fast and thermal neutrons, and study the difference in responses they induce, showing that this type of detector is rather insensitive to gamma rays. We use light-sheet fluorescence microscopy to image nuclear recoil tracks from fast and thermal neutron interactions deep inside a cubic-centimeter sized crystal and demonstrate automated feature extraction in three dimensions using machine learning tools. The number, size, and topology of the events agree with expectations based on simulations with TRIM. These results constitute the first step towards 10-1000g scale detectors with single-event sensitivity for applications such as the detection of dark matter particles, reactor neutrinos, and neutrons.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_20732
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Nuclear recoil detection with color centers in bulk lithium fluoride
Araujo, Gabriela A.
Baudis, Laura
Bowden, Nathaniel
Chapman, Jordan
Erickson, Anna
Perez, Mariano Guerrero
Hecht, Adam A.
Hedges, Samuel C.
Huber, Patrick
Ivanov, Vsevolod
Jovanovic, Igor
Khodaparast, Giti A.
Magill, Brenden A.
Mateos, Jose Maria
Morrison, Maverick
Smith, Nicholas W. G.
Stengel, Patrick
Surani, Stuti
Vladimirov, Nikita
Walkup, Keegan
Wittweg, Christian
Zhang, Xianyi
Nuclear Experiment
High Energy Physics - Experiment
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Instrumentation and Detectors
We present initial results on nuclear recoil detection based on the fluorescence of color centers created by nuclear recoils in lithium fluoride. We use gamma rays, fast and thermal neutrons, and study the difference in responses they induce, showing that this type of detector is rather insensitive to gamma rays. We use light-sheet fluorescence microscopy to image nuclear recoil tracks from fast and thermal neutron interactions deep inside a cubic-centimeter sized crystal and demonstrate automated feature extraction in three dimensions using machine learning tools. The number, size, and topology of the events agree with expectations based on simulations with TRIM. These results constitute the first step towards 10-1000g scale detectors with single-event sensitivity for applications such as the detection of dark matter particles, reactor neutrinos, and neutrons.
title Nuclear recoil detection with color centers in bulk lithium fluoride
topic Nuclear Experiment
High Energy Physics - Experiment
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Instrumentation and Detectors
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.20732