LASEcharacterizations of neutrino detector media optical properties

Large-scale liquid-based neutrino detectors can contain optically transparent mixtures including water and scintillator. In order for antineutrino detectors to gather data, photons must traverse many meters of liquid detection media to be detected by photosensors to register an event. The optical properties (attenuation and scattering) of these liquid mixtures must be understood in order to model detector performance. This project research utilizes LASE (Livermore Attenuation and Scattering Experiment), which is a newly commissioned horizontal benchtop device used to simultaneously measure photon attenuation and scattering lengths for neutrino detector fill materials. The optical transparency measurements presented here are critical to understanding the performance of large-scale neutrino detectors comprised of water, scintillator and mixtures thereof (water-based scintillator). This class of detector is potentially relevant for nonproliferation applications, and has demonstrated relevance for fundamental particle physics.