A Low Mass Optical Grid for the PROSPECT Reactor Antineutrino Detector

Abstract

PROSPECT, the Precision Reactor Oscillation and SPECTrum experiment, is a short-baseline reactor antineutrino experiment designed to provide precision measurements of the ${}^{235}$U product ${\overline{\nu }}_e$ spectrum of utilizing an optically segmented 4-ton liquid scintillator detector. PROSPECT's segmentation system, the optical grid, plays a central role in reconstructing the position and energy of ${\overline{\nu }}_e$ interactions in the detector. This paper is the technical reference for this PROSPECT subsystem, describing its design, fabrication, quality assurance, transportation and assembly in detail. In addition, the dimensional, optical and mechanical characterizations of optical grid components and the assembled PROSPECT target are also presented. The technical information and characterizations detailed here will inform geometry-related inputs for PROSPECT physics analysis, and can guide a variety of future particle detection development efforts, such as those using optically reflecting materials or filament-based 3D printing.

31 pages, 28 figures

References in corpus (6)

• The Reactor Antineutrino Anomaly
• Improved measurements of the neutrino mixing angle ${\theta }_{13}$ with the Double Chooz detector
• The 5 MeV bump - a nuclear whodunit mystery
• Reactor Fuel Fraction Information on the Antineutrino Anomaly
• Prospects for Improved Understanding of Isotopic Reactor Antineutrino Fluxes
• Lithium-loaded Liquid Scintillator Production for the PROSPECT experiment

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Final Measurement of the U235 Antineutrino Energy Spectrum with the PROSPECT-I Detector at HFIR
• Final Search for Short-Baseline Neutrino Oscillations with the PROSPECT-I Detector at HFIR
• Calibration strategy of the PROSPECT-II detector with external and intrinsic sources
• Measurement of the Reactor Antineutrino Spectrum from ${}^{235}$U Fission using PROSPECT