Characterization of a radiation detector based on opaque water-based liquid scintillator

Apilluelo, J.; Asquith, L.; Bannister, E. F.; Beney, J. L.; De La Bernardie, X.; Bezerra, T. J. C.; Bongrand, M.; Bourgeois, C.; Boutalha, H.; Breton, D.; Briere, M.; Cabrera, A.; Cadiou, A.; Calvo, E.; Chaumat, V.; Chauveau, E.; Cattermole, B. J.; Chen, M.; Chimenti, P.; Ċornet, T.; Cowen, D. F.; Delafosse, C.; Dusini, S.; Earle, A.; Frigerio-Martins, C.; Galán, J.; Gallas, A.; García, J. A.; Gazzini, R.; Gibson-Foster, A.; Girard-Carillo, C.; Griffith, W. C.; Gómez-Cadenas, J. J.; Guittière, M.; Haddad, F.; Hartnell, J.; Holin, A.; Hull, G.; Irastorza, I. G.; Jovanovic, I.; Koch, L.; J. F. Le, Du; Lefebvre, C.; Lefevre, F.; Legrand, F.; Loaiza, P.; Lock, J. A.; Luzón, G.; Maalmi, J.; Malhado, J. P.; Mantovani, F.; Marquet, C.; Martínez, M.; Mathon, B.; Navas-Nicolás, D.; Nunokawa, H.; Ochoa-Ricoux, J. P.; Palomares, C.; Petyt, D.; Pillot, P.; Porter, J. C. C.; Pravikoff, M. S.; Ramarijaona, H.; Roche, M.; Rosero, R.; Rosier, P.; Roskovec, B.; Sarsa, M. L.; Schoppmann, S.; Serafini, A.; Shepherd-Themistocleous, C.; Shorrock, W.; Simard, L.; Soleti, S. R.; Steiger, H. Th. J.; Stocco, D.; Strati, V.; Stutzmann, J. S.; Suekane, F.; Tunc, A.; Tuccori, N.; Verdugo, A.; Viaud, B.; Wakely, S. M.; Weber, A.; Wendel, G.; Wilhelm, A. S.; Yeh, M.; Yermia, F.

doi:10.1016/j.nima.2024.170075

We present the characterization of a novel radiation detector based on an opaque water-based liquid scintillator. Opaque scintillators, also known as LiquidO, are made to be highly scattering, such that the scintillation light is effectively confined, and read out through wavelength-shifting fibers. The 1-liter, 32-channel prototype demonstrates the capability for both spectroscopy and topological reconstruction of point-like events. The design, construction, and evaluation of the detector are described, including modeling of the scintillation liquid optical properties and the detector's response to gamma rays of several energies. A mean position reconstruction error of 4.4 mm for 1.6 MeV-equivalent events and 7.4 mm for 0.8 MeV-equivalent events is demonstrated using a simple reconstruction approach analogous to center-of-mass.