Development, Characterization and Production of a novel Water-based Liquid Scintillator based on the Surfactant TRITON X-100

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new water-based liquid scintillator with enhanced stability and comparable pulse shape discrimination to organic scintillators, suitable for particle physics experiments including neutrino detection and dark matter searches.

Contribution

It presents a novel WbLS formulation using Triton X-100 and vitamin C, along with a new production method and comprehensive property characterization.

Findings

Achieved long-term stability of the WbLS

Demonstrated pulse shape discrimination comparable to organic scintillators

Validated suitability for neutrino and dark matter experiments

Abstract

Water-based Liquid Scintillator (WbLS) is a novel detector medium for particle physics experiments. Applications range from the use as hybrid Cherenkov/scintillation target in low-energy and accelerator neutrino experiments to large-volume neutron vetoes for dark matter detectors. Here, we present a novel WbLS featuring new components (the surfactant Triton-X and vitamin C for long-term stability), a new production recipe, and a thorough characterization of its properties. Moreover, based on neutron scattering data we are able to demonstrate that the pulse shape discrimination capabilities of this particular LS are comparable to fully-organic LAB based scintillators.