Characterization of the optical model of the T2K 3D segmented plastic scintillator detector unit cube

Authors

S. Abe, The University of Tokyo
I. Alekseev, P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences
T. Arai, The University of Tokyo
T. Arihara, Tokyo Metropolitan University
S. Arimoto, Kyoto University
N. Babu, Louisiana State University
V. Baranov, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna
L. Bartoszek, University of Colorado Boulder
L. Berns, Tohoku University
S. Bhattacharjee, Louisiana State University
A. Blondel, Université de Genève
A. V. Boikov, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna
M. Buizza-Avanzini, Laboratoire Leprince-Ringuet
J. Capó, Institut de Física d'Altes Energies, Bellaterra
J. Cayo, University of Pennsylvania
J. Chakrani, Laboratoire Leprince-Ringuet
P. S. Chong, University of Pennsylvania
A. Chvirova, Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences
M. Danilov, P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences
C. Davis, University of Pennsylvania
Yu I. Davydov, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna
A. Dergacheva, Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences
N. Dokania, Stony Brook University
D. Douqa, Université de Genève
T. A. Doyle, Stony Brook University
O. Drapier, Laboratoire Leprince-Ringuet
A. Eguchi, The University of Tokyo
J. Elias, University of Rochester
D. Fedorova, Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences
S. Fedotov, Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences
D. Ferlewicz, The University of Tokyo
Y. Fuji, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, Tsukuba
Y. Furui, Tokyo Metropolitan University

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-1-2025

Abstract

The magnetized near detector (ND280) of the T2K long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment has been recently upgraded aiming to satisfy the requirement of reducing the systematic uncertainty from measuring the neutrino–nucleus interaction cross section, which is the largest systematic uncertainty in the search for leptonic charge-parity symmetry violation. A key component of the upgrade is SuperFGD, a 3D segmented plastic scintillator detector made of approximately 2,000,000 optically-isolated 1cm³ cubes. The SuperFGD cube unit shows promising optical performance, including a high light yield of about 40 photoelectrons (p.e.) per channel, a low cube-to-cube crosstalk rate below 3%, and a sub-nanosecond time resolution of 0.96 ns. By combining tracking and stopping power measurements of final state particles, this novel detector enables precise 3D-imaging of GeV neutrino interactions with reduced systematic uncertainties. A detailed Geant4 based optical simulation of the SuperFGD building block, i.e. a plastic scintillating cube read out by three wavelength shifting fibers, has been developed and validated with the different datasets collected in various beam tests. In this manuscript the description of the optical model as well as the comparison with data are reported.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A Accelerators Spectrometers Detectors and Associated Equipment

Recommended Citation

Abe, S., Alekseev, I., Arai, T., Arihara, T., Arimoto, S., Babu, N., Baranov, V., Bartoszek, L., Berns, L., Bhattacharjee, S., Blondel, A., Boikov, A., Buizza-Avanzini, M., Capó, J., Cayo, J., Chakrani, J., Chong, P., Chvirova, A., Danilov, M., Davis, C., Davydov, Y., Dergacheva, A., Dokania, N., Douqa, D., Doyle, T., Drapier, O., Eguchi, A., Elias, J., Fedorova, D., Fedotov, S., Ferlewicz, D., Fuji, Y., & Furui, Y. (2025). Characterization of the optical model of the T2K 3D segmented plastic scintillator detector unit cube. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A Accelerators Spectrometers Detectors and Associated Equipment, 1080 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2025.170757