A prototype reactor-antineutrino detector based on $^6$Li-doped pulse-shaping-discriminating plastic scintillator

TL;DR

This paper presents a prototype aboveground reactor-antineutrino detector using $^6$Li-doped plastic scintillator bars, demonstrating its construction, features, and ability to detect various background signals and reactor antineutrinos.

Contribution

It introduces a novel 60-kg detector prototype with pulse-shape discrimination and $^6$Li doping for improved antineutrino detection above ground.

Findings

Successfully detects correlated energy depositions for antineutrino identification.

Capable of detecting neutron backgrounds, decay chains, and cosmogenic isotopes.

Demonstrates key performance characteristics of the detector system.

Abstract

An aboveground 60-kg reactor-antineutrino detector prototype, comprised of a 2-dimensional array of 36 $^{6}$Li-doped pulse shape sensitive plastic scintillator bars, is described. Each bar is 50~cm long with a square cross section of 5.5~cm. Doped with $^{6}$Li at 0.1\% by mass, the detector is capable of identifying correlated energy depositions for the detection of reactor antineutrinos via the inverse-beta-decay reaction. Each bar is wrapped with a specular reflector that directs photons towards PMTs mounted at both ends of the bar. This paper highlights the construction, key features, and main performance characteristics of the system. The system, which relies on multiple observables such as PSD, energy, position, and timing, is capable of detecting IBD-like neutron-correlated backgrounds, long-lived decay chains, and cosmogenic isotopes.