Society of Physics Students Symposium

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Acrylic Light Guides for Use in Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers

Nuclear and Particle Physics

Smidt, Tess

Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers (LArTPCs) utilize photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) to detect light created by neutrino interaction events in liquid argon. PMTs cannot be used in strong electric fields, which LArTPCs use to drift and detect resultant electrons. Because of this limitation, PMTs can populate only low potential areas of the chamber and many neutrino events go undetected. One way to remedy this, is to attach light guides to the PMTs. The light guides can extend into the field intensive areas and relay light events to the PMTs. Our group proposes the use of acrylic rods with wavelength shifting coating as a possible light guide material for LArTPCs. Acrylic not only has the potential of being a good light guide once the wavelength shifter coatings are applied but acrylic is also relatively inexpensive, a increasingly appealing attribute as larger and larger LArTPCs are constructed.