Speaker
Description
Radon-222 is an important source of radioactive background in low-background experiments using liquid scintillators, such as JUNO, Borexino, or KamLAND. In these large-volume detectors, the liquid scintillator, particularly Linear Alkylbenzene (LAB) in the case of JUNO, must exhibit an extremely low level of radioactivity in order to preserve the experimental performance. Produced by 226Ra contained in detector materials, or introduced through external pathways, 222Rn can migrate into the active volume and dissolve in the liquid scintillator. Once present in the target, its radioactive progeny contribute to the background and may limit the sensitivity of the experiment.
However, the available data on radon solubility in liquid scintillators remain limited. Measuring the solubility of radon in LAB is therefore essential to better understand its partitioning between the gas and liquid phases and to provide useful data for next-generation experiments.
The objective of this study is to measure the radon trapping capability of LAB through its solubility, and to investigate its evolution as a function of temperature. For this purpose, a dedicated experimental setup has been developed to evaluate the partitioning of radon between a gaseous phase and a liquid LAB phase, at atmospheric pressure and under controlled thermal conditions.
In this poster, we will present the experimental results obtained on radon solubility in LAB as a function of temperature, together with a discussion of their interpretation and relevance for future-generation low-background experiments.