Liquid Scintillator Time Projection Chamber Concept

TL;DR

This paper explores the feasibility of using room temperature liquid scintillators as the active medium in a time projection chamber, demonstrating charge transport over 20mm and aiming for a cost-effective neutrino detector alternative.

Contribution

It presents experimental evidence of charge transport in liquid scintillators, a novel application for neutrino detection technology.

Findings

Successful charge transport over 20mm in liquid scintillators

Demonstrated operation at various electric drift fields

Potential for cost-effective neutrino detectors

Abstract

Results are presented from a small-scale experiment to investigate the use of room temperature organic liquid scintillators as the active medium for a time projection chamber (TPC). The optical properties of liquid scintillators have long been known, but their ability to transport charge has remained, until now, largely untested. The idea of using room temperature liquids as an active medium for an ionisation chamber was first presented in \cite{EnglerTMS}. Since then the range of liquid scintillators available has been greatly developed. We present successful transport of ionization charges in a selection of both, pure organic liquid solvents and liquid scintillator cocktails over 20$\,$mm using a variety of electric drift field strengths. The target of this research is to offer a cost effective alternative to liquid noble gas detectors in neutrino physics.