Measurement of the Absolute Photon Detection Efficiency of the DUNE Far Detector Vertical Drift X-ARAPUCAs

TL;DR

This paper reports the measurement of the photon detection efficiency of X-ARAPUCA modules used in DUNE's far detector, crucial for uniform scintillation light collection in neutrino detection.

Contribution

It presents the first detailed measurement of the PDE of X-ARAPUCA modules in liquid argon, including design optimizations for improved photon collection.

Findings

X-ARAPUCA modules achieve high PDE in liquid argon.

Design improvements enhance light-trapping efficiency.

Measurement results guide future detector optimization.

Abstract

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a long-baseline (1300 km) neutrino experiment hosted at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL). It aims to measure neutrino mass ordering and CP violation through neutrino oscillations from a characterized muon neutrino beam. DUNE will deploy four Liquid-Argon Time-Projection-Chamber (LArTPC) detectors with a total mass of approximately 70 kT. The reconstruction of particle interactions, both from the beam and external neutrino sources is achieved by collecting two distinct interaction signals: ionization electrons with the Time Projection Chamber (TPC) and scintillation photons (127 nm) with the Photon Detection System (PDS). Regarding the latter, to fulfil the physics requirements of the experiment, a uniform and efficient collection of the argon scintillation light across the 62 m x 15 m x 14 m detector volume is required to achieve an average detected light yield of at least 20 PE/MeV. For the case of DUNE's far detector module with vertical drift direction (FD-VD), the system relies on 672 X-ARAPUCA (XA) tiles, which trap photons inside its highly reflective box by shifting VUV light to visible wavelengths. An intensive R&D campaign, involving multiple international institutions, has optimized the design and component selection for the next-generation PDS modules, which have been tested in liquid argon using a dedicated cryogenic setup developed at CIEMAT to evaluate their photon detection efficiency (PDE). Several configurations have been chosen to evaluate the possible design improvements in terms of different light-trapping strategies and reflectiveness.