Testing the Efficiency of Wavelength-Shifting Fibers for the Next Generation of Neutrino Telescopes
Abstract
The low cross section of neutrino interactions requires that high energy neutrino observatories have a large detector covering a volume of space on the order of a cubic kilometer. Modern high energy neutrino observatories, such as IceCube, utilize 3D arrays of photo-detectors embedded in transparent material. The next generation of neutrino detectors will be on the order of ten cubic kilometers, and will be essential to studying astrophysical neutrino sources. In order to improve the sensitivity of this large-scale telescope, it is important to design a detector with increased efficiency at a relatively low cost. The Fiber Optical Module is one proposed design for the next generation of photo-detectors; this module would utilize wavelength shifting optical fibers and would not require a thick glass vessel, thus increasing the module's efficiency at detecting the ultraviolet and blue light that Cherenkov radiation peaks at. Additionally, a detector of this kind can be relatively inexpensive. This study aims to characterize the efficiency of wavelength shfting fiber at transmitting ultraviolet light in a laboratory setting. We then compare experimental results with a Geant4 Monte-Carlo simulation. We present the preliminary results of this laboratory test.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #235
- Pub Date:
- January 2020
- Bibcode:
- 2020AAS...23517535C