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