XXth International Conference on Neutrino Physics and Astrophysics
B.Choudhary
Development, Construction and Performance of A Large Solid Scintillator
Detector for the MINOS Experiment
The MINOS experiment will study the phenomenon of neutrino oscillation
using the Fermilab Main Injector neutrino beam and atmospheric neutrinos.
MINOS will use a 1 Kton near detector and a 5.4 Kton far detector. The near
and far detectors are situated respectively 1 Km and 734 Km from the
neutrino production target. The detectors are fine grained sampling
calorimeters with 1 inch thick steel as absorber and finely segmented
(4 cm wide and 1 cm thick) scintillator strips as sampling element for
tracking and topology measurement. The signals are read out using
wavelength shifting and clear fibres, and Hamamatsu M16/M64 multipixel
phototubes. The total volume of the scintillator 26000 m2*cm
(approximately 400 tons) requires that the cost per unit of the detector
be kept low. MINOS has optimised the cost of a large detector using
extruded solid scintillator, wavelength shifting and clear fibre,
multi-pixel phototubes and low cost electronics. In this presentation, I
will exhibit the details of the system design, along with test results
from fabrication and the performance of nearly 150 far detector planes
installed so far.