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PRIN Bando 2017
Development of a UV imaging system in liquid argon detectors for neutrino, particle, and medical physics applications
- Scientific PI per INFN: Alessandro Montanari
- Concluded (Start date 01/09/2019 – End date 28/02/2023)
In this Project we want to prove that the topological reconstruction of neutrino or other particle interactions in noble liquids detectors is possible by means of the prompt UV scintillation light emitted by both Argon and Xenon. In particular, we want to show that the spatial reconstruction of charged particle tracks and vertices in Liquid Argon (LAr) can be obtained through the stereo imaging of the prompt UV light copiously emitted at the peak wavelength of 128 nm. If successful, this Project will represent a major breakthrough in the field. It will provide a much faster, simpler and cheaper alternative to the current approaches, which are based either on the complex and delicate drift Time Projection Chambers (TPCs) or on the even more advanced double-phase technologies. Indeed, in this new framework the UV imaging would be done using a small set of relatively cheap high field-of-view and high focal-depth cameras, which observe a large volume of Liquid Argon in stereo mode. Costs and complexity would be dramatically reduced and, even more important, the event detection and readout would be faster by more than four order of magnitudes, from >10 micro-sec scale of the electron drift time down to the ns scale of the scintillation emission. The key idea of the Project is the use of a Coded Aperture Mask coupled to an existing high granularity photon detector such as CCDs or SiPMs. In the UV range, in fact, it is not easy to design a standard imaging optical system based on lenses and/or mirrors. If the Project will be successful, we will put solid foundations for future larger investments on this line of research and to the implementation of this new technology in the context of future neutrino detectors such as DUNE.
We believe that other important technological and scientific applications will be made possible. In particular, we believe that the combination of high granularity, nanosecond scale time resolution, and a complete insensitivity to magnetic field offer the ideal technology for PET-MRI systems.
Programma PRIN Bando 2017 finanziato dal Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca
