Metal-loaded organic scintillators for neutrino physics

TL;DR

This paper reviews the development and application of metal-loaded organic liquid scintillators in neutrino physics, emphasizing recent stable techniques suitable for long-term, large-scale experiments.

Contribution

It introduces recent methods for stable metal loading in organic scintillators, enhancing their suitability for neutrino detection over extended periods.

Findings

Recent techniques enable long-term stable metal loading.

Metal-loaded scintillators improve neutrino signal detection.

Performance varies with different scintillator compositions.

Abstract

Organic liquid scintillators are used in many neutrino physics experiments of the past and present. In particular for low energy neutrinos when realtime and energy information are required, liquid scintillators have several advantages compared to other technologies. In many cases the organic liquid needs to be loaded with metal to enhance the neutrino signal over background events. Several metal loaded scintillators of the past suffered from chemical and optical instabilities, limiting the performance of these neutrino detectors. Different ways of metal loading are described in the article with a focus on recent techniques providing metal loaded scintillators that can be used under stable conditions for many years even in ton scale experiments. Applications of metal loaded scintillators in neutrino experiments are reviewed and the performance as well as the prospects of different scintillator types are compared.