pp. 2251-2261
S&M2614 Research Paper of Special Issue https://doi.org/10.18494/SAM.2021.3411 Published: June 24, 2021 Development of Zr-loaded Green-emitting Liquid Scintillator for Detection of Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay [PDF] Akito Watanabe, Arisa Magi, Masanori Koshimizu, Atsushi Sato, Yutaka Fujimoto, and Keisuke Asai (Received March 6, 2021; Accepted May 14, 2021) Keywords: neutrinoless double beta decay, liquid scintillator, organometallic complex, 96Zr
In this study, zirconium acetylacetonate (Zr(acac)4) containing the isotope 96Zr was studied as a liquid scintillator for the possible detection of neutrinoless double beta decay. To avoid the absorption of scintillation by ligand absorption, the phosphor Coumarin 7 was assessed as a green-emitting liquid scintillator. By dissolving 3 g/L of Coumarin 7 in anisole, a liquid scintillator with a light yield of 12000 photons/MeV was fabricated. Subsequently, the liquid scintillator was loaded with Zr(acac)4. In the liquid scintillator containing 10 wt% Zr(acac)4, the light yield of scintillation was 370 photons/MeV for a blue-emitting liquid scintillator, while a light yield of 1900 photons/MeV was determined for a green-emitting liquid scintillator. The scintillation decay time constants of the fast component were around 4.4 ns. Liquid scintillators with a high light yield that avoid absorption by Zr(acac)4 can be prepared using Coumarin 7.
Corresponding author: Akito WatanabeThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Cite this article Akito Watanabe, Arisa Magi, Masanori Koshimizu, Atsushi Sato, Yutaka Fujimoto, and Keisuke Asai, Development of Zr-loaded Green-emitting Liquid Scintillator for Detection of Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay, Sens. Mater., Vol. 33, No. 6, 2021, p. 2251-2261. |