No Arabic abstract
It is challenging to achieve high precision energy resolution for large liquid scintillator detectors. Energy non-uniformity is one of the main obstacles. To surmount it, a calibration-data driven method was developed previously to reconstruct event energy in the JUNO experiment. In this paper, we investigated the choice of calibration sources thoroughly, optimized the calibration positions and corrected the residual detector azimuthal asymmetry. All these efforts lead to a reduction of the energy non-uniformity near the detector boundary, from about 0.64% to 0.38%. And within the fiducial volume of the detector it is improved from 0.3% to 0.17%. As a result the energy resolution could be further improved.
Liquid scintillators are commonly used to detect low energy neutrinos from the reactors, sun, and earth. It is a challenge to reconstruct deposited energies for a large liquid scintillator detector. For detectors with multiple optical mediums such as JUNO and SNO+, the prediction of the propagation of detected photons is extremely difficult due to mixed optical processes such as Rayleigh scattering, refraction and total reflection at their boundaries. Calibration based reconstruction methods consume impractical time since a large number of calibration points are required in a giant detector. In this paper, we propose a new model-independent method to reconstruct deposited energies with minimum requirements on the calibration system. This method is validated with JUNOs offline software. Monte Carlo studies show that the energy non-uniformity can be controlled below 1%, which is crucial for JUNO to achieve 3% energy resolution.
For liquid-scintillator neutrino detectors of kiloton scale, the transparency of the organic solvent is of central importance. The present paper reports on laboratory measurements of the optical scattering lengths of the organic solvents PXE, LAB, and Dodecane which are under discussion for next-generation experiments like SNO+, Hanohano, or LENA. Results comprise the wavelength range from 415 to 440nm. The contributions from Rayleigh and Mie scattering as well as from absorption/re-emission processes are discussed. Based on the present results, LAB seems to be the preferred solvent for a large-volume detector.
Rayleigh scattering poses an intrinsic limit for the transparency of organic liquid scintillators. This work focuses on the Rayleigh scattering length of linear alkylbenzene (LAB), which will be used as the solvent of the liquid scintillator in the central detector of the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory. We investigate the anisotropy of the Rayleigh scattering in LAB, showing that the resulting Rayleigh scattering length will be significantly shorter than reported before. Given the same overall light attenuation, this will result in a more efficient transmission of photons through the scintillator, increasing the amount of light collected by the photosensors and thereby the energy resolution of the detector.
The experimental efforts characterizing the era of precision neutrino physics revolve around collecting high-statistics neutrino samples and attaining an excellent energy and position resolution. Next generation liquid-based neutrino detectors, such as JUNO, HyperKamiokande, etc, share the use of a large target mass, and the need of pushing light collection to the edge for maximal calorimetric information. Achieving high light collection implies considerable costs, especially when considering detector masses of several kt. A traditional strategy to maximize the effective photo-coverage with the minimum number of PMTs relies on Light Concentrators (LC), such as Winston Cones. In this paper, the authors introduce a novel concept called Occulting Light Concentrators (OLC), whereby a traditional LC gets tailored to a conventional PMT, by taking into account its single-photoelectron collection efficiency profile and thus occulting the worst performing portion of the photocathode. Thus, the OLC shape optimization takes into account not only the optical interface of the PMT, but also the maximization of the PMT detection performances. The light collection uniformity across the detector is another advantage of the OLC system. By considering the case of JUNO, we will show OLC capabilities in terms of light collection and energy resolution.
Liquid scintillator detectors are widely used in modern neutrino studies. The unique optical properties of semiconducting nanocrystals, known as quantum dots, offer intriguing possibilities for improving standard liquid scintillator, especially when combined with new photodetection technology. Quantum dots also provide a means to dope scintillator with candidate isotopes for neutrinoless double beta decay searches. In this work, the first studies of the scintillation properties of quantum-dot-doped liquid scintillator using both UV light and radioactive sources are presented.