Speaker
Description
DUNE is a long-baseline accelerator experiment currently in construction at Fermilab and SURF (South Dakota).
The science objectives of DUNE are the study of CP violation in the neutrino sector, the identification of the neutrino mass hierarchy, observation of supernova neutrino bursts and the search for proton decay.
The DUNE physics reach are remarkably enhanced by the DUNE Photon Detection System (PDS), which is based on a light concentration technology named X-Arapuca: at its core a polymeric slab acts both as secondary wavelength shifter and as lightguide to the photosensors.
In this talk, we will present the latest results achieved in the framework of the DUNE PDS Consortium activities, on the R&D and production of a photon downshifting (WLS) polymeric material, alternative to the off-shell baseline product, for both the Dune Horizontal and Vertical Drift modules and for SBND: it is an high performing low cost material, that allows to cover the large surfaces required in DUNE.
It will be discussed how the new WLS material enhances the light efficiency and cryo-reliability of the X-Arapuca with respect to the baseline WLS, and how it may be adapted for the Xe doping of Liquid Argon. Moreover the talk will review the strategies adopted to optimize the light trapping and the optical coupling of the WLS slab to the SiPMs. This to match the required photon detection efficiency for the detection of supernova neutrino bursts, while allowing for a reduced number of SiPMs per unit area of the X-Arapuca device, hence reducing the power dissipated in LAr by the power over fiber technique.
