Development of PROSPECT detectors for precision antineutrino studies

TL;DR

PROSPECT is a precision experiment using segmented Li-6 loaded scintillator detectors near a reactor to measure antineutrino spectra and search for sterile neutrinos, with extensive background characterization and detector R&D.

Contribution

The paper reports the development and characterization of Li-6 loaded scintillator detectors and background measurements crucial for PROSPECT's physics goals.

Findings

Effective background rejection via pulse-shape discrimination.

Successful operation and characterization of test detectors.

Measured reactor and cosmogenic backgrounds at HFIR.

Abstract

PROSPECT, the Precision Reactor Oscillation and Spectrum Experiment, will use two segmented detectors positioned 7-20 m from the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to measure the U-235 antineutrino spectrum and perform a search for short-baseline oscillations as a signature of eV-scale sterile neutrinos. PROSPECT has developed Li-6 loaded liquid scintillator detectors for efficient identification of reactor antineutrinos and has measured reactor and cosmogenic backgrounds in the HFIR reactor building. Multiple test detectors have been built, operated, and characterized at HFIR and elsewhere to understand the optical performance of the scintillator and pulse-shape discrimination capabilities for enhanced background rejection. The results from this R&D effort are discussed, in the context of the design and physics potential of PROSPECT.