Development, characterisation, and deployment of the SNO+ liquid scintillator
M.R. Anderson, S. Andringa, L. Anselmo, E. Arushanova, S. Asahi, M. Askins, D.J. Auty, A.R. Back, Z. Barnard, N. Barros, D. Bartlett, F. Barão, R. Bayes, E.W. Beier, A. Bialek, S.D. Biller, E. Blucher, R. Bonventre, M. Boulay, D. Braid, E. Caden, E.J. Callaghan, J. Caravaca, J. Carvalho, L. Cavalli, D. Chauhan, M. Chen, O. Chkvorets, K.J. Clark, B. Cleveland, D. Cookman, C. Connors, I.T. Coulter, M.A. Cox, D. Cressy, X. Dai, C. Darrach, B. Davis-Purcell, C. Deluce, M.M. Depatie, F. Descamps, J. Dittmer, F. Di Lodovico, N. Duhaime, F. Duncan, J. Dunger, A.D. Earle, D. Fabris, E. Falk, A. Farrugia, N. Fatemighomi, V. Fischer, E. Fletcher, R. Ford, K. Frankiewicz, N. Gagnon, A. Gaur, K. Gilje, O.I. González-Reina, D. Gooding, P. Gorel, K. Graham, C. Grant, J. Grove, S. Grullon, E. Guillian, S. Hall, A.L. Hallin, D. Hallman, S. Hans, J. Hartnell, P. Harvey, M. Hedayatipour, W.J. Heintzelman, J. Heise, R.L. Helmer, D. Horne, B. Hreljac, J. Hu, S.M.A. Hussain, T. Iida, A.S. Inácio, C.M. Jackson, N.A. Jelley, C.J. Jillings, C. Jones, P.G. Jones, K. Kamdin, T. Kaptanoglu, J. Kaspar, K. Keeter, C. Kefelian, P. Khaghani, L. Kippenbrock, J.R. Klein, R. Knapik, J. Kofron, L.L. Kormos, S. Korte, B. Krar
Abstract
Abstract A liquid scintillator consisting of linear alkylbenzene as the solvent and 2,5-diphenyloxazole as the fluor was developed for the SNO+ experiment. This mixture was chosen as it is compatible with acrylic and has a competitive light yield to pre-existing liquid scintillators while conferring other advantages including longer attenuation lengths, superior safety characteristics, chemical simplicity, ease of handling, and logistical availability. Its properties have been extensively characterized and are presented here. This liquid scintillator is now used in several neutrino physics experiments in addition to SNO+.