Improvement and Characterisation of the ArCLight Large-Area Dielectric Light Detector for Liquid-Argon Time Projection Chambers

TL;DR

This paper presents an improved large-area dielectric light detector, ArCLight, designed for liquid-argon TPCs, featuring enhanced TPB coating techniques and quality control for scalable production, enabling efficient scintillation light detection in modular detectors.

Contribution

It introduces an improved ArCLight detector with optimized TPB coating methods and quality control procedures for large-scale production, suitable for modular liquid-argon detectors.

Findings

Enhanced TPB coating techniques for large surfaces.

Effective quality control methods for mass production.

Comparable or improved light detection efficiency.

Abstract

The detection of scintillation light in noble-liquid detectors is necessary for identifying neutrino interaction candidates from beam, astrophysical, or solar sources. Large monolithic detectors typically have highly efficient light sensors, like photomultipliers, mounted outside their electric field. This option is not available for modular detectors that wish to maximize their active volume. The ArgonCube light readout system detectors (ArCLights) are large-area thin-wavelength-shifting (WLS) panels that can operate in highly proximate modular detectors and within the electric field. The WLS plastic forming the bulk structure of the ArCLight has Tetraphenyl Butadiene (TPB) and sheets of dichroic mirror layered across its surface. It is coupled to a set of six silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs). This publication compares TPB coating techniques for large surface areas and describes quality control methods for large-scale production.