SoLid: Search for Oscillation with a 6Li Detector at the BR2 research reactor

TL;DR

The SoLid experiment aims to measure reactor antineutrino flux at very short distances using a novel 6Li detector technology to investigate the reactor antineutrino anomaly.

Contribution

It introduces a new detector technology and experimental setup for short-baseline reactor neutrino measurements at the BR2 reactor.

Findings

Demonstrated detector performance with initial test data

Achieved successful detection of reactor antineutrinos

Provided preliminary flux measurements

Abstract

In the past decades, various nuclear reactor neutrino experiments have measured a deficit in the flux of antineutrinos coming from the reactor at short reactor-detector distances, when compared to theoretical calculations. One of the experiments designed to investigate this reactor antineutrino anomaly is the SoLid experiment. It uses the compact BR2 research reactor from the SCK-CEN in Mol, Belgium, to perform reactor antineutrino flux measurements at very short baseline. These proceedings discuss the general detection concepts of the SoLid experiment and its novel detector technology. The performance of the SoLid design is demonstrated with some results of the analysis of the data gathered with the experiment's first large scale test module, SM1.