The SNO+ supernova calibration source development and testing

Abstract

SNO+ is a kilotonne-scale, liquid scintillator-based neutrino detector housed in the underground facilities of SNOLAB at Creighton Mine, Sudbury. SNO+ is capable of detecting bursts of neutrinos released by nearby core-collapse supernovae among other physics goals. For such an event, stress testing is required to ensure that a burst of supernova neutrino events can be reliably read out and recorded by the electronics and data acquisition system to avoid data pileup and limit event separation. During a supernova, SNO+ needs to be able to record the burst, send a timely alert to the astronomical community, and quickly analyze and interpret the data. The supernova calibration system (SNC+) for SNO+ simulates the light produced by interactions of neutrinos from a supernova within the liquid scintillator target using pulsed, visible light from a laser diode. The SNC+ is a data-driven pulser capable of producing high-powered, ns-scale pulses with repetition rates up to 12.5 MHz. Each photon pulse is expected to deposit energy of up to 70 MeV within the liquid scintillator of the SNO+ detector. The light from the SNC+ laser diode will be delivered isotropically within the SNO+ detector by ber optics and a di using glass laserball. The SNC+ has undergone design, parts procurement, construction, assembly, and initial-stage testing for this thesis research.