Design and first tests of the S3 detector of reactor antineutrinos

Abstract

The new experiment S³ devoted to the study of reactor antineutrinos was designed and constructed as a common activity of IEAP CTU in Prague and JINR (Dubna). The S³ detector is a compact, highly segmented polystyrene-based scintillating detector composed of 80 detector elements with a gadolinium neutron converter between elements layers. A positron and a neutron are produced in an inverse beta decay initiated with an electron antineutrino in the detector. A modular multi-channel fast ADC was developed for the data acquisition for the whole 80-channel S³ detector and the 4-channel cosmic veto system. The detector meets very strict safety rules of nuclear power plants and can be installed in a chamber located immediately under the reactor. The close vicinity from the reactor enables to study neutrino properties with a higher efficiency, to investigate neutrino oscillations at short baselines and try to verify the hypothesis of a sterile neutrino. The details of the design and construction of the S³ detector, as well as properties of the modular multi-channel fast ADC system, and first tests of the device are presented.