Characterization of a Nd-loaded organic liquid scintillator for neutrinoless double beta decay search of 150-Nd with a 10-ton scale detector

TL;DR

This paper reports on the development and characterization of a neodymium-loaded organic liquid scintillator, evaluating its optical properties, radiopurity, and light yield, for potential use in a large-scale detector to search for neutrinoless double beta decay of 150Nd.

Contribution

It introduces a new Nd-loaded scintillator with detailed performance metrics and discusses its application in a 10-ton scale detector for neutrinoless double beta decay searches.

Findings

Optical properties suitable for large-scale detectors

High radiopurity achieved

Adequate light yield for detection sensitivity

Abstract

Several liters of an organic liquid scintillator (LS) loaded with Nd have been made. We report on performances of this scintillator in terms of optical properties, radiopurity and light yield for a Nd concentration of 6.5 g/l. A possible application to search for the 150Nd neutrinoless double beta decay with a 10-ton scale LS detector is discussed together with further improvements.