How to Clean a Neutrino Detector

kvd1 — Fri, 01 Feb 2019 19:37:47 +0000

Mark Chen

Research Associate and adjunct faculty member Dr. Peter Skensved is the only person to ever access the top of the Acrylic Vessel of the SNO+ neutrino detector, the upgraded Sudbury Neutrino Observatory. He performed a small modification and is seen in the photo polishing the surface. To reach this location required him to be first lowered onto the back of the structure (not visible) which supports the thousands of light sensors seen behind him in the photo, and then to squeeze through a narrow opening to be further lowered onto the transparent 12-metre diameter acrylic sphere.

Location of photograph:

SNOLAB, Sudbury, Ontario

Submission Year:

2015-16

Window on a Window to the Universe

stratg — Mon, 01 Oct 2018 20:32:43 +0000

Mark Chen

An underwater camera mounted in the SNO+ (Sudbury Neutrino Observatory) neutrino detector captures a snapshot image when the 12-metre diameter acrylic sphere is 85% full. Viewed from below, ropes are seen crisscrossing the top of the sphere extending down (foreground), and each of the shiny cells that are visible is a 20-cm diameter super-sensitive light detector. The water-air interface inside and outside the acrylic spherical tank creates visual distortions as light refracts at the optical boundary. Once full, the upgraded detector turns on in Fall 2016, ten years after the original SNO detector completed its Nobel-prize winning studies.

Location of photograph:

SNOLAB, Sudbury, Ontario

Prize name:

Second prize

Submission Year:

2016-17

Gordon & Patricia Gray Chair in Particle Astrophysics

How to Clean a Neutrino Detector

Window on a Window to the Universe