Passive low-energy nuclear recoil detection with color centers

TL;DR

This paper proposes a passive, room-temperature detector using color centers in crystals for detecting low-energy nuclear recoils, enabling applications in neutrino detection, dark matter searches, and nuclear safeguards.

Contribution

It introduces a novel optical readout scheme for crystal damage detection, enabling large-volume, passive detectors with low recoil thresholds for multiple nuclear physics applications.

Findings

Potential to observe reactor neutrino CEvNS with 10g detectors

Dark matter detection sensitivity down to 0.3 GeV mass

Applications in nuclear non-proliferation safeguards

Abstract

Crystal damage events such as tracks and point defects have been used to record and detect radiation for a long time and recently they have been proposed as a means for dark matter detection. Color centers can be read out optically and we propose a scheme based on selective plane illumination microscopy for sub-micron imaging of large volumes corresponding to kilogram mass detectors. This class of detectors would be passive and would operate at room temperature. We apply these concepts to the detection of reactor neutrinos using coherent elastic neutrino nucleus scattering (CEvNS). Crystal damage formation energies are intrinsically on the order of 25eV, resulting in similarly low nuclear recoil thresholds. This would enable the first observation of reactor neutrino CEvNS with detectors as small as 10g. Additionally, a competitive search for spin-dependent dark matter scattering down to a dark matter mass of 0.3GeV could be possible. Passive crystal detectors might also be attractive for nuclear non-proliferation safeguards if used to monitor reactor power and to put limits on plutonium production. The passive nature and small footprint of the proposed detectors implies that these might fit well within accepted reactor safeguards operations.