Preliminary study of light yield dependence on LAB liquid scintillator composition

TL;DR

This study investigates how varying concentrations of PPO and bis-MSB in LAB liquid scintillator affect light yield, providing insights to optimize detector performance for JUNO's energy resolution goals.

Contribution

It offers experimental data on the influence of fluor and wavelength shifter concentrations on light yield in LAB LS, guiding material optimization for neutrino detection.

Findings

Light yield growth plateaus beyond 4 g/L PPO.

Bis-MSB influence diminishes above 8 mg/L.

Results inform JUNO liquid scintillator composition choices.

Abstract

Liquid scintillator (LS) will be adopted as the detector material in JUNO (Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory). The energy resolution requirement of JUNO is 3%, which has never previously been reached. To achieve this energy resolution, the light yield of liquid scintillator is an important factor. PPO (the fluor) and bis-MSB (the wavelength shifter) are the two main materials dissolved in LAB. To study the influence of these two materials on the transmission of scintillation photons in LS, 25 and 12 cm-long quartz vessels were used in a light yield experiment. LS samples with different concentration of PPO and bis-MSB were tested. At these lengths, the light yield growth is not obvious when the concentration of PPO is higher than 4 g/L. The influence from bis-MSB becomes insignificant when its concentration is higher than 8 mg/L. This result could provide some useful suggestions for the JUNO LS.