A new hybrid gadolinium nanoparticles-loaded polymeric material for neutron detection in rare event searches
Creators: name: 20k Collaboration
name: Acerbi, F.
name: Adhikari, P.
name: Agnes, P.
name: Ahmad, I.
name: Albergo, S.
name: Albuquerque, I. F.
name: Alexander, T.
name: Alton, A. K.
name: Amaudruz, P.
name: Angiolilli, M.
name: Aprile, E.
name: Ardito, R.
name: Corona, M. Atzori
name: Auty, D. J.
name: Ave, M.
name: Avetisov, I. C.
name: Azzolini, O.
name: Back, H. O.
name: Balmforth, Z.
name: Olmedo, A. Barrado
name: Barrillon, P.
name: Batignani, G.
name: Bhowmick, P.
name: Bocci, V.
name: Bonivento, W.
name: Bottino, B.
name: Boulay, M. G.
name: Buchowicz, A.
name: Bussino, S.
name: Busto, J.
name: Cadeddu, M.
name: Cadoni, M.
name: Calabrese, R.
name: Camillo, V.
name: Caminata, A.
name: Canci, N.
name: Capra, A.
name: Caravati, M.
name: Cárdenas-Montes, M.
name: Cargioli, N.
name: Carlini, M.
name: Castellani, A.
name: Castello, P.
name: Cavalcante, P.
name: Cavallo, D.
name: Cebrian, S.
name: Ruiz, J. Cela
name: Chashin, S.
name: Chepurnov, A.
name: Cifarelli, L.
name: Cintas, D.
name: Citterio, M.
name: Cleveland, B.
name: Coadou, Y.
name: Cocco, V.
name: Colaiuda, D.
name: Vilda, E. Conde
name: Consiglio, L.
name: Costa, B. S.
name: Czubak, M.
name: D'Auria, S.
name: Rolo, M. D. Da Rocha
name: Darbo, G.
name: Davini, S.
name: De Cecco, S.
name: De Guido, G.
name: Dellacasa, G.
name: Derbin, A. V.
name: Devoto, A.
name: Di Capua, F.
name: Di Ludovico, A.
name: Di Noto, L.
name: Di Stefano, P.
name: Dias, L. K.
name: Mairena, D. Díaz
name: Ding, X.
name: Dionisi, C.
name: Dolganov, G.
name: Dordei, F.
name: Dronik, V.
name: Elersich, A.
name: Ellingwood, E.
name: Erjavec, T.
name: Diaz, M. Fernandez
name: Ficorella, A.
name: Fiorillo, G.
name: Franchini, P.
name: Franco, D.
name: Gatti, H. Frandini
name: Frolov, E.
name: Gabriele, F.
name: Gahan, D.
name: Galbiati, C.
name: Galinski, G.
name: Gallina, G.
name: Garbini, M.
name: Abia, P. Garcia
name: Gawdzik, A.
name: Gendotti, A.
name: Ghisi, A.
name: Giovanetti, G. K.
name: Casanueva, V. Goicoechea
name: Gola, A.
name: Grandi, L.
name: Grauso, G.
name: di Cortona, G. Grilli
name: Grobov, A.
name: Gromov, M.
name: Guerzoni, M.
name: Gulino, M.
name: Guo, C.
name: Hackett, B. R.
name: Hallin, A.
name: Hamer, A.
name: Haranczyk, M.
name: Harrop, B.
name: Hessel, T.
name: Hill, S.
name: Horikawa, S.
name: Hu, J.
name: Hubaut, F.
name: Hucker, J.
name: Hugues, T.
name: Hungerford, E. V.
name: Ianni, A.
name: Ippolito, V.
name: Jamil, A.
name: Jillings, C.
name: Keloth, R.
name: Kemmerich, N.
name: Kemp, A.
name: Kendziora, C. L.
name: Kimura, M.
name: Kondo, K.
name: Korga, G.
name: Kotsiopoulou, L.
name: Koulosousas, S.
name: Kubankin, A.
name: Kuss, M.
name: Kuzniak, M.
name: Kuzwa, M.
name: La Commara, M.
name: Lai, M.
name: Guirriec, E. Le
name: Leason, E.
name: Leoni, A.
name: Lidey, L.
name: Lissia, M.
name: Luzzi, L.
name: Lychagina, O.
name: Macfadyen, O.
name: Machulin, I. N.
name: Manecki, S.
name: Manthos, I.
name: Mapelli, L.
name: Marasciulli, A.
name: Mari, S. M.
name: Mariani, C.
name: Maricic, J.
name: Marini, A.
name: Martinez, M.
name: Martoff, C. J.
name: Matteucci, G.
name: Mavrokoridis, K.
name: McDonald, A. B.
name: Mclaughlin, J.
name: Merzi, S.
name: Messina, A.
name: Milincic, R.
name: Minutoli, S.
name: Mitra, A.
name: Moharana, A.
name: Moioli, S.
name: Monroe, J.
name: Moretti, E.
name: Morrocchi, M.
name: Mroz, T.
name: Muratova, V. N.
name: Murphy, M.
name: Murra, M.
name: Muscas, C.
name: Musico, P.
name: Nania, R.
name: Nessi, M.
name: Nieradka, G.
name: Nikolopoulos, K.
name: Nikoloudaki, E.
name: Nowak, J.
name: Olchanski, K.
name: Oleinik, A.
name: Oleynikov, V.
name: Organtini, P.
name: de Solórzano, A. Ortiz
name: Pallavicini, M.
name: Pandola, L.
name: Pantic, E.
name: Paoloni, E.
name: Papi, D.
name: Pastuszak, G.
name: Paternoster, G.
name: Peddis, D.
name: Pegoraro, P. A.
name: Pelczar, K.
name: Pellegrini, L. A.
name: Perez, R.
name: Perotti, F.
name: Pesudo, V.
name: Piacentini, S. I.
name: Pino, N.
name: Plante, G.
name: Pocar, A.
name: Poehlmann, M.
name: Pordes, S.
name: Pralavorio, P.
name: Price, D.
name: Puglia, S.
name: Bazetto, M. Queiroga
name: Ragusa, F.
name: Ramachers, Y.
name: Ramirez, A.
name: Ravinthiran, S.
name: Razeti, M.
name: Renshaw, A. L.
name: Rescigno, M.
name: Retiere, F.
name: Rignanese, L. P.
name: Rivetti, A.
name: Roberts, A.
name: Roberts, C.
name: Rogers, G.
name: Romero, L.
name: Rossi, M.
name: Rubbia, A.
name: Rudik, D.
name: Sabia, M.
name: Sadashivajois, S.
name: Salomone, P.
name: Samoylov, O.
name: Sandford, E.
name: Sanfilippo, S.
name: Santone, D.
name: Santorelli, R.
name: Santos, E. M.
name: Savarese, C.
name: Scapparone, E.
name: Schillaci, G.
name: Schuckman, F. G.
name: Scioli, G.
name: Semenov, D. A.
name: Sheshukov, A.
name: Simeone, M.
name: Skensved, P.
name: Skorokhvatov, M. D.
name: Slimani, S.
name: Smirnov, O.
name: Smirnova, T.
name: Smith, B.
name: Sotnikov, A.
name: Spadoni, F.
name: Spangenberg, M.
name: Stefanizzi, R.
name: Steri, A.
name: Stornelli, V.
name: Stracka, S.
name: Sulis, S.
name: Sung, A.
name: Sunny, C.
name: Suvorov, Y.
name: Szelc, A. M.
name: Taborda, O.
name: Tartaglia, R.
name: Taylor, A.
name: Taylor, J.
name: Tedesco, S.
name: Testera, G.
name: Thieme, K.
name: Thompson, A.
name: Tonazzo, A.
name: Torres-Lara, S.
name: Tosi, S.
name: Tricomi, A.
name: Unzhakov, E. V.
name: Vallivilayil, T. J.
name: Van Uffelen, M.
name: Velazquez-Fernandez, L.
name: Viant, T.
name: Vicini, S.
name: Viel, S.
name: Vishneva, A.
name: Vogelaar, R. B.
name: Vossebeld, J.
name: Vyas, B.
name: Wada, M.
name: Walczak, M. B.
name: Wang, H.
name: Wang, Y.
name: Westerdale, S.
name: Williams, L.
name: Wojaczynski, R.
name: Wojcik, M. M.
name: Wojcik, M.
name: Wright, T.
name: Xie, Y.
name: Yang, C.
name: Yin, J.
name: Zabihi, A.
name: Zakhary, P.
name: Zani, A.
name: Zhang, Y.
name: Zhu, T.
name: Zichichi, A.
name: Zuzel, G.
name: Zykova, M. P.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: Instrumentation and Detectors (physics.ins-det)
subject: High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Experiments aimed at direct searches for WIMP dark matter require highly effective reduction of backgrounds and control of any residual radioactive contamination. In particular, neutrons interacting with atomic nuclei represent an important class of backgrounds due to the expected similarity of a WIMP-nucleon interaction, so that such experiments often feature a dedicated neutron detector surrounding the active target volume. In the context of the development of DarkSide-20k detector at INFN Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS), several R&amp;D projects were conceived and developed for the creation of a new hybrid material rich in both hydrogen and gadolinium nuclei to be employed as an essential element of the neutron detector. Thanks to its very high cross-section for neutron capture, gadolinium is one of the most widely used elements in neutron detectors, while the hydrogen-rich material is instrumental in efficiently moderating the neutrons. In this paper results from one of the R&amp;Ds are presented. In this effort the new hybrid material was obtained as a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) matrix, loaded with gadolinium oxide in the form of nanoparticles. We describe its realization, including all phases of design, purification, construction, characterization, and determination of mechanical properties of the new material.