Calibrating the photon detection efficiency in IceCube

TL;DR

This paper presents a new laboratory calibration method for IceCube's photomultiplier tubes, improving the understanding of their optical sensitivity to enhance neutrino detection accuracy.

Contribution

It introduces a precise laboratory setup to measure DOM optical sensitivity as a function of angle and wavelength, refining IceCube's detector response calibration.

Findings

Enhanced calibration accuracy of DOMs' optical sensitivity.

Improved neutrino event reconstruction precision.

Foundation for future detector upgrades.

Abstract

The IceCube neutrino observatory is composed of more than five thousand light sensors, Digital Optical Modules (DOMs), installed on the surface and at depths between 1450 and 2450 m in clear ice at the South Pole. Each DOM incorporates a 10-inch diameter photomultiplier tube (PMT) intended to detect light emitted when high energy neutrinos interact with atoms in the ice. Depending on the energy of the neutrino and the distance from secondary particle tracks, PMTs can be hit by up to several thousand photons within a few hundred nanoseconds. The number of photons per PMT and their time distribution is used to reject background events and to determine the energy and direction of each neutrino. The detector energy scale was established from previous lab measurements of DOM optical sensitivity, then refined based on observed light yield from stopping muons and calibration of ice properties. A laboratory setup has now been developed to more precisely measure the DOM optical sensitivity as a function of angle and wavelength. DOMs are calibrated in water using a broad beam of light whose intensity is measured with a NIST calibrated photodiode. This study will refine the current knowledge of the IceCube response and lay a foundation for future precision upgrades to the detector.