Selective Filtration of Gadolinium Trichloride for Use in Neutron Detection in Large Water Cherenkov Detectors

Vagins, Mark R.

doi:10.2172/1073072

Title: Selective Filtration of Gadolinium Trichloride for Use in Neutron Detection in Large Water Cherenkov Detectors

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Abstract

Water Cherenkov detectors have been used for many years as inexpensive, effective detectors for neutrino interactions and nucleon decay searches. While many important measurements have been made with these detectors a major drawback has been their inability to detect the absorption of thermal neutrons. We believe an inexpensive, effective technique could be developed to overcome this situation via the addition to water of a solute with a large neutron cross section and energetic gamma daughters which would make neutrons detectable. Gadolinium seems an excellent candidate especially since in recent years it has become very inexpensive, now less than $8 per kilogram in the form of commercially-available gadolinium trichloride, GdCl{sub 3}. This non-toxic, non-reactive substance is highly soluble in water. Neutron capture on gadolinium yields a gamma cascade which would be easily seen in detectors like Super-Kamiokande. We have been investigating the use of GdCl{sub 3} as a possible upgrade for the Super-Kamiokande detector with a view toward improving its performance as a detector for atmospheric neutrinos, supernova neutrinos, wrong-sign solar neutrinos, reactor neutrinos, proton decay, and also as a target for the coming T2K long-baseline neutrino experiment. This focused study of selective water filtration and GdCl{sub 3} extraction techniques, conductedmore »« less

Authors:: Vagins, Mark R.

Publication Date:: Wed Apr 10 00:00:00 EDT 2013

Research Org.:: Univ. of California, Irvine, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)

OSTI Identifier:: 1073072

Report Number(s):: DOE-07ER41494
TRN: US1400014

DOE Contract Number:: FG02-07ER41494

Resource Type:: Technical Report

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Citation Formats


                    Vagins, Mark R. Selective Filtration of Gadolinium Trichloride for Use in Neutron Detection in Large Water Cherenkov Detectors.  United States: N. p., 2013. 
        Web.  doi:10.2172/1073072.

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                    Vagins, Mark R. Selective Filtration of Gadolinium Trichloride for Use in Neutron Detection in Large Water Cherenkov Detectors.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.2172/1073072

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                    Vagins, Mark R. 2013.  
        "Selective Filtration of Gadolinium Trichloride for Use in Neutron Detection in Large Water Cherenkov Detectors".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.2172/1073072.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1073072.

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@article{osti_1073072,

  title        = {Selective Filtration of Gadolinium Trichloride for Use in Neutron Detection in Large Water Cherenkov Detectors},

  author       = {Vagins, Mark R.},

  abstractNote = {Water Cherenkov detectors have been used for many years as inexpensive, effective detectors for neutrino interactions and nucleon decay searches. While many important measurements have been made with these detectors a major drawback has been their inability to detect the absorption of thermal neutrons. We believe an inexpensive, effective technique could be developed to overcome this situation via the addition to water of a solute with a large neutron cross section and energetic gamma daughters which would make neutrons detectable. Gadolinium seems an excellent candidate especially since in recent years it has become very inexpensive, now less than $8 per kilogram in the form of commercially-available gadolinium trichloride, GdCl{sub 3}. This non-toxic, non-reactive substance is highly soluble in water. Neutron capture on gadolinium yields a gamma cascade which would be easily seen in detectors like Super-Kamiokande. We have been investigating the use of GdCl{sub 3} as a possible upgrade for the Super-Kamiokande detector with a view toward improving its performance as a detector for atmospheric neutrinos, supernova neutrinos, wrong-sign solar neutrinos, reactor neutrinos, proton decay, and also as a target for the coming T2K long-baseline neutrino experiment. This focused study of selective water filtration and GdCl{sub 3} extraction techniques, conducted at UC Irvine, followed up on highly promising benchtop-scale and kiloton-scale work previously carried out with the assistance of 2003 and 2005 Advanced Detector Research Program grants.},

  doi          = {10.2172/1073072},

  url          = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1073072},
  journal      = {},
number       = ,

  volume       = ,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Wed Apr 10 00:00:00 EDT 2013},

  month        = {Wed Apr 10 00:00:00 EDT 2013}

}

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