Design, construction, and operation of a 30-ton Water-based Liquid scintillator detector at Brookhaven National Laboratory

TL;DR

This paper details the design, construction, and operation of a 30-ton Water-based Liquid Scintillator detector at Brookhaven, demonstrating the feasibility of large-scale WbLS detectors for neutrino detection and particle physics research.

Contribution

It presents the first large-scale 30-ton WbLS detector, showcasing its design, construction, and operational capabilities, advancing the development of versatile neutrino detectors.

Findings

Successful construction and operation of a 30-ton WbLS detector

Demonstrated stability and potential for particle detection

Foundation for future data analysis and physics results

Abstract

Water-based Liquid Scintillator (WbLS) was proposed over a decade ago as a novel detector medium that might allow the separation and tuning of the relative ratio of the Cherenkov and Scintillation signals. A detector deploying this technology could combine GeV-scale and MeV-scale neutrino detection at scale. Furthermore, the metal-loading capability of such a material enables neutron tagging and allows the effective particle containment to be tuned. WbLS is attractive both for the potential to use it in large detectors and the ability to modify the configuration in situ. At Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), two prototypes have been built for understanding WbLS properties and stability, with masses of 1-ton and 30-ton, respectively. We present here the 30-ton prototype detector design, installation, and operation. Results from the analysis of data collected in the two detectors will follow in future publications.