A large volume (4.8 m
3) liquid scintillator detector has been running in Hall C of the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory since February 1995. This detector is called the “Counting Test Facility” ...(CTF). The main goal of the detector facility is the measurement of ultralow background levels in scintillators and the development of processes able to purify them at this level. The detector has been designed to have exceptional sensitivity using a variety of methods to identify backgrounds. With the CTF, records were achieved in the domain of low background large volume detectors. Limits of 3.5 ± 1.3 × 10
−16 g/g and 4.4
−1.2
+1.5 × 10
−16 g/g for the
238U and
232Th daughters, respectively, and 1.85 ± 0.13 ± 0.01 × 10
−18 for the isotopic abundance of
14C relative to
12C were obtained. These results are very encouraging and point towards the feasibility of low energy, real time scintillation detectors for solar neutrinos, such as Borexino.
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The techniques researched, developed and applied towards the measurement of radioisotope concentrations at ultra-low levels in the real-time solar neutrino experiment BOREXINO at Gran Sasso are ...presented and illustrated with specific results of widespread interest. We report the use of low-level germanium gamma spectrometry, low-level miniaturized gas proportional counters and low background scintillation detectors developed in solar neutrino research. Each now sets records in its field. We additionally describe our techniques of radiochemical ultra-pure, few atom manipulations and extractions. Forefront measurements also result from the powerful combination of neutron activation and low-level counting. Finally, with our techniques and commercially available mass spectrometry and atomic absorption spectroscopy, new low-level detection limits for isotopes of interest are obtained.
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We present a NAA method to determine ultratraces of K, Th, U and other trace impurities in liquid organic scintillators, which are known as ultrapure detector materials for neutrino or dark matter ...experiments. A combined optimization of relevant factors for sensitive NAA has been realized, leading to a sensitivity for U down to 10−16g/g. Samples of 250 ml have been irradiated up to 120 h at a thermal neutron flux of 5–8·1012·n·cm−2·s−1. Acidic extraction, wet ashing and TBP-extraction are used for radiochemical separations. Finally, coincidence techniques are applied for increased sensitivity.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OBVAL, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
A 4.8 m
3 unsegmented liquid scintillation detector at the underground Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso has shown the feasibility of multi-ton low-background detectors operating to energies as low ...as 250 keV. Detector construction and the handling of large volumes of liquid scintillator to minimize the background are described. The scintillator, 1.5 g PPO/L-pseudocumene, is held in a flexible nylon vessel shielded by 1000 t of purified water. The active detector volume is viewed by 100 photomultipliers, which measure time and charge for each event, from which energy, position and pulse shape are deduced. On-line purification of the scintillator by water extraction, vacuum distillation and nitrogen stripping removed radioactive impurities. Upper limits were established of < 10
−7 Bq/kg-scintillator for events with energies 250 keV <
E < 800 keV, and < 10
−9 Bq/kg-scintillator due to the decay products of uranium and thorium. The isotopic abundance of
14C
12C
in the scintillator was shown to be approximately 10
−18 by extending the energy window of the detector to 25–250 keV. The
14C abundance and uranium and thorium levels in the CTF are compatible with the Borexino Solar Neutrino Experiment.
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We report the direct measurement of the 7Be solar neutrino signal rate performed with the Borexino detector at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso. The interaction rate of the 0.862 MeV 7Be ...neutrinos is 49+/-3stat+/-4syst counts/(day.100 ton). The hypothesis of no oscillation for 7Be solar neutrinos is inconsistent with our measurement at the 4sigma C.L. Our result is the first direct measurement of the survival probability for solar nu(e) in the transition region between matter-enhanced and vacuum-driven oscillations. The measurement improves the experimental determination of the flux of 7Be, pp, and CNO solar nu(e), and the limit on the effective neutrino magnetic moment using solar neutrinos.
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Light propagation in a large volume liquid scintillator Alimonti, G; Arpesella, C; Balata, M ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
02/2000, Volume:
440, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
The fluorescence light propagation in a large volume detector based on organic liquid scintillators is discussed. In particular, the effects of the fluor radiative transport and solvent Rayleigh ...scattering are emphasized. These processes have been modelled by a ray-tracing Monte Carlo method and have been experimentally investigated in the Borexino prototype which was a 4.3 ton, 4π sensitive detector. The comparison between the model prediction and the experimental data shows a satisfactory agreement indicating that the main aspects of these processes are well understood. Some features of the experimental time response of the detector are still under study.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
We report the direct measurement of the 7Be solar neutrino signal rate performed with the Borexino detector at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso. The interaction rate of the 0.862 MeV 7Be ...neutrinos is 49±3stat±4syst counts/(day·100 ton). The hypothesis of no oscillation for 7Be solar neutrinos is inconsistent with our measurement at the 4σ C.L. Our result is the first direct measurement of the survival probability for solar νe in the transition region between matter-enhanced and vacuum-driven oscillations. The measurement improves the experimental determination of the flux of 7Be, pp, and CNO solar νe, and the limit on the effective neutrino magnetic moment using solar neutrinos.
Neutron Activation Analysis has emerged to be an analytical method sensitive enough to detect fg/g traces of unstable primordial nuclides in complex matrices. Especially low count rate experiments in ...the field of solar neutrino physics and dark matter search can profit from the detection capabilities of this method which had been unattained so far. This gain in sensitivity has been achieved by combining neutron activation, radiochemical separation methods, and efficient low level counting systems at the new underground laboratory of the accelerator laboratory in Garching.
Recent improvements which have been made in the purification and analysis of the liquid scintillator, as foreseen for the solar neutrino experiment BOREXINO, are being presented as an example in this paper
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