CAREER: Next-Generation Liquid Scintillator Detectors: Picosecond Timing and Quantum-Dot-Doped Scintillator

职业：下一代液体闪烁体探测器：皮秒定时和量子点掺杂闪烁体

• 批准号: 1352116
• 负责人: Lindley Winslow
• 金额: $ 79.36万
• 依托单位: University of California-Los Angeles
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-02-01 至 2015-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1352116&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Next; Generation; Liquid; Scintillator

Even after more than a decade of great discoveries, the neutrino remains the most mysterious of the known fundamental particles. Basic questions about its properties endure; the most basic being whether the neutrino is its own antiparticle. If true, this Majorana nature of the neutrino would have profound implications to particle physics and cosmology, including an explanation for the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe. The only feasible experimental probes of the Majorana nature of the neutrino are experiments searching for the rare nuclear process, neutrinoless double-beta decay. The current set of experiments will probe the parameter space for Majorana neutrinos in the inverted mass hierarchy. The next generation of experiments will need to push into the normal mass hierarchy which requires an order of magnitude increase in mass and background suppression. Liquid scintillator detectors scale well to large masses but advances are needed to obtain increased background suppression. This award will support a program of research that focusses on combining advances in photodetectors and the use of novel wavelength shifters in the form of nanocrystals called quantum dots to extract a directional signal from liquid scintillator detectors.Broader impacts: Undergraduate research is critical for recruiting and retaining physics students. This award will be used to improve opportunities for transfer students. A seminar series on succeeding as a physics major will be developed and presented at UCLA. A modified version of the series will also be presented at Santa Monica College. Furthermore, this grant will sponsor an additional slot in UCLA's Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program.

即使经过十多年的大发现，中微子仍然是已知的基本颗粒中最神秘的。关于其特性持久的基本问题；最基本的是中微子是否是其自身的反粒子。如果是的，则中微子的这种主要性质将对粒子物理和宇宙学具有深远的影响，包括对宇宙中物质抗对称性不对称的解释。中微子主要中微子性质性质的唯一可行的实验探针是寻找罕见的核过程，中微子双β衰减。当前的实验集将在倒数质量层次结构中探测主要中微子的参数空间。下一代实验将需要进入正常的质量层次结构，这需要增加质量和背景抑制的数量级。液体闪烁体检测器尺寸很好地扩展到大型群体，但需要进步才能获得增加的背景抑制作用。该奖项将支持一项研究计划，该计划的重点是将光电探测器的进步结合在一起，并以称为量子点的纳米晶体形式使用新型波长变速杆，以从液体闪烁体检测器中提取方向信号。Broader的影响：本科生的研究对于招募和招募物理学是至关重要的。该奖项将用于改善转学学生的机会。将在UCLA开发和介绍有关成为物理专业的成功的研讨会系列。该系列的修改版本也将在圣塔莫尼卡学院（Santa Monica College）介绍。此外，这笔赠款将赞助UCLA的本科生研究经验（REU）计划的其他位置。