Advancements in voxelated technology for reactor anti-neutrino and space-based solar neutrino detection
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This thesis presents advancements in voxelated detection technology and methods for neutrino and anti-neutrino detection. The research focuses on enhancing scintillation detectors for charged-current neutrino interactions by segmenting the detection volumes into smaller voxels. This design allows for improved double-pulse resolution, crucial for reducing backgrounds in solar neutrino and reactor anti-neutrino detectors. Notably, the interaction of anti-neutrinos with 107Ag is explored as a promising detection method due to its lower threshold and tighter time window compared to traditional inverse beta decay interactions on 1H. Experimental tests conducted with gadolinium aluminum gallium garnet (GAGG) crystals coupled with silicon photo multipliers (SiPMs) demonstrate the feasibility of the voxelated detector concept, showing energy deposition, resolution, and decay time. Additional tests investigated electrons and gammas traversing through multiple voxels and the location of energy deposits based on data from multiple SiPMs. In simulations, a Monte Carlo-based lookup list tracking algorithm proves to be a more effective method for reconstructing the angles of traversing particles, offering a significant improvement over linear regression techniques. Based on these results, two detectors are proposed: one for solar neutrino detection consisting of five 5x5x60 arrays of GAGG plates, and another for anti-neutrino detection featuring two 5x5 photo multiplier tube arrays with GAGG crystals interleaved with 0.3 mm sheets of silver for the 107Ag target material. These innovations represent crucial developments that may enable more efficient and accurate neutrino detection for reactor anti-neutrinos and space-based solar neutrino observation.