New cosmic rays experiments in the underground laboratory of IFIN-HH from Slanic Prahova, Romania

Journal Article · Tue Feb 24 00:00:00 EST 2015 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4909574· OSTI ID:22390971

Mitrica, Bogdan; Stanca, Denis; Brancus, Iliana; Margineanu, Romul; Blebea-Apostu, Ana-Maria; Gomoiu, Claudia; Saftoiu, Alexandra; Toma, Gabriel; Gherghel-Lascu, Alexandru; Niculescu-Oglinzanu, Mihai ^[1]; Rebel, Heinigerd; Haungs, Andreas ^[2]; Sima, Octavian ^[3]

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1. Horia Hulubei National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering - IFIN HH, P.O.B. MG-6, Bucharest (Romania)
2. Institute of Experimental Nuclear Physics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology-Campus North, 76021 Karlsruhe (Germany)
3. Department of Physics, University of Bucharest, 077125 Magurele (Romania)

Since 2006 a modern laboratory has been developed by IFIN-HH in the underground of Slanic Prahova salt ore. This work presents a short review of previous scientific activities performed in the underground laboratory, in parallel with some plans for the future. A mobile detector for cosmic muon flux measurements has been set up at IFIN-HH, Romania. The device is used to measure the muon flux on different locations at the surface and underground and it consists of two detection layers, each one including four large scintillator plates. A new rotatable detector for measurements of the directional variation of the muon flux has been designed and it is presently under preliminary tests. Built from four layers of sensitive material and using for collecting the signals and directing them to the micro PMTs a new technique, through optical fibers instead wave length shifters, it allows an easy discrimination of the moun flux on the arrival directions of muons. Combining the possibility to rotate and the directionality properties, the underground muon detector is acting like a muon tomography device, being able to scan, using cosmic muons, the rock material above the detector. In parallel new detection system based on SiPM will be also installed in the following weeks. It should be composed by four layers, each layer consisting in 4 scintillator plates what we consider in the following as a module of detection. For this purpose, first two scintillator layers, with the optical fibers positioned on perpendicular directions are put in coincidence with other two layers, 1 m distance from the first two, with similar optical fiber arrangement, thus allowing reconstructing muon trajectory. It is intended also to design and construct an experimental device for the investigation of such radio antennas and the behavior of the signal in rock salt at the Slanic salt mine in Romania. Another method to detect high energy neutrinos is based on the detection of secondary particles resulting from the interaction with the salt massive. We intent to design and construct a 3D array in the underground of Slanic Prahova salt ore.

• OSTI ID: 22390971
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1645, Issue 1; Conference: Carpathian Summer School of Physics 2014, Sinaia (Romania), 13-26 Jul 2014; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
ANTENNAS
COINCIDENCE CIRCUITS
COSMIC MUONS
COSMIC RAY DETECTION
EXPERIMENT PLANNING
LAYERS
NEUTRINO DETECTION
NEUTRINOS
OPTICAL FIBERS
PARTICLE DISCRIMINATION
PHOTOMULTIPLIERS
ROCKS
ROMANIA
SI SEMICONDUCTOR DETECTORS
SOLID SCINTILLATION DETECTORS
SURFACES
TOMOGRAPHY
UNDERGROUND