Opaque Scintillator Detector Development Capital Equipment 2022

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Many radiation detectors use scintillators, which are materials that give off light when radiation such as gamma rays hits them. Traditionally, scintillators have always been transparent, and this was necessary to allow detection of the light. The new concept being applied in this project is to use the combination of an opaque scintillator and a lattice of fibre optic cables. The opacity causes the light to bounce around close to where it is produced and then the fibres extract the light. Such a configuration enables high-resolution imaging capabilities at a potentially lower cost.A particularly promising application for this type of detector is in detection of invisible, near-massless particles called neutrinos. One of the most pressing questions in physics is why the universe is comprised of matter and not anti-matter. Recent discoveries in neutrino oscillations have shown that we have a way to help answer this question: we can precisely compare the oscillations of neutrinos and antineutrinos to see if they are different. To make the precise measurements needed, we have to understand all the important ways that neutrinos interact with matter and we haven't got there yet. We need more precise detectors, able to accurately track all the high-energy particles that are produced when neutrinos interact. Besides fundamental physics, this type of detector can potentially lead to better and lower cost medical imaging systems and non-destructive imaging with muon tomography.The funds in this grant will allow us to purchase a 3D printer that can produce parts with the same structural properties as aluminium. This will allow us to rapidly prototype and produce detector components with fine details necessary for optical fibre placement and holding, with structural strength to maintain dimensional stability under fibre tension. We will also purchase a vector network analyser (VNA). This electronics equipment will be used to test and characterise high speed amplifiers and other electronics that make up the light detection system for our detectors.This work is part of detector R&D activities in the Sussex Experimental Particle Physics group supported by our STFC Consolidated Grant (ST/S000798/1, Oct 2019-Sept 2022; ST/W000512/1, Oct 2022-Sept 2025).