21–26 Jun 2026
University of California, Irvine
US/Pacific timezone

A Passive Detector for Observing Reactor CEvNS via Nuclear Recoil-Induced Crystal Defects

Not scheduled
20m
Conference Center (University of California, Irvine)

Conference Center

University of California, Irvine

Poster New Technologies for Neutrino Physics Poster session

Speaker

Sam Hedges (Virginia Tech)

Description

Coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) can induce defects in crystal lattices that persist over long time scales. In certain materials, electrons can become trapped in these defects, turning them optically active (i.e. color centers). This enables neutrino-induced nuclear recoils to be imaged using fluorescence microscopy. We present commissioning data from the Virginia Tech mesoSPIM light-sheet microscope, which can rapidly image color centers in large volumes of material with micrometer-scale resolution. Backgrounds and projected sensitivity for a tens-of-gram-scale deployment of lithium fluoride to a reactor for observing CEvNS will be presented.

Authors

Presentation materials