Eur. Phys. J. C (2022) 82: 804
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-022-10726-x

Regular Article - Experimental Physics

The Double Chooz antineutrino detectors

¹ III. Physikalisches Institut, RWTH Aachen University, 52056, Aachen, Germany
² Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Alabama, 35487, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA
³ APC, CNRS/IN2P3, CEA/IRFU, Observatoire de Paris, Sorbonne Paris Cité Université, 75205, Paris Cedex 13, France
⁴ Argonne National Laboratory, 60439, Argonne, IL, USA
⁵ DRF/IRFU, CEA, Université Paris-Saclay, 91191, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
⁶ Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas, 22290-180, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
⁷ CENBG, CNRS/IN2P3, Université de Bordeaux, 33175, Gradignan, France
⁸ The Enrico Fermi Institute, The University of Chicago, 60637, Chicago, IL, USA
⁹ Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas, CIEMAT, 28040, Madrid, Spain
¹⁰ Columbia University, 10027, New York, NY, USA
¹¹ University of California, 95616, Davis, CA, USA
¹² Department of Physics, Drexel University, 19104, Philadelphia, PA, USA
¹³ Hiroshima Institute of Technology, 731-5193, Hiroshima, Japan
¹⁴ Department of Physics, Illinois Institute of Technology, 60616, Chicago, IL, USA
¹⁵ Institute of Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 117312, Moscow, Russia
¹⁶ IPHC, CNRS/IN2P3, Université de Strasbourg, 67037, Strasbourg, France
¹⁷ Department of Physics, Kansas State University, 66506, Manhattan, KS, USA
¹⁸ Department of Physics, Kitasato University, 252-0373, Sagamihara, Japan
¹⁹ Department of Physics, Kobe University, 657-8501, Kobe, Japan
²⁰ NRC Kurchatov Institute, 123182, Moscow, Russia
²¹ Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 94550, Livermore, CA, USA
²² Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 02139, Cambridge, MA, USA
²³ Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, 69117, Heidelberg, Germany
²⁴ Physik Department, Technische Universität München, 85748, Garching, Germany
²⁵ Department of Physics, Niigata University, 950-2181, Niigata, Japan
²⁶ University of Notre Dame, 46556, Notre Dame, IN, USA
²⁷ SUBATECH, CNRS/IN2P3, Université de Nantes, IMT-Atlantique, 44307, Nantes, France
²⁸ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sussex, BN1 9QH, Falmer, Brighton, UK
²⁹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Tennessee, 37996, Knoxville, TN, USA
³⁰ Research Center for Neutrino Science, Tohoku University, 980-8578, Sendai, Japan
³¹ Tohoku Gakuin University, 981-3193, Sendai, Japan
³² Department of Physics, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 152-8551, Tokyo, Japan
³³ Department of Physics, Tokyo Metropolitan University, 192-0397, Tokyo, Japan
³⁴ Kepler Center for Astro and Particle Physics, Universität Tübingen, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
³⁵ Universidade Federal do ABC, UFABC, 09210-580, Santo André, SP, Brazil
³⁶ Universidade Estadual de Campinas-UNICAMP, 13083-970, Campinas, SP, Brazil
³⁷ Center for Neutrino Physics, Virginia Tech, 24061, Blacksburg, VA, USA
³⁸ LNCA Underground Laboratory, IN2P3/CNRS-CEA, Chooz, France
³⁹ CPPM, CNRS/IN2P3-Aix Marseille University, Marseille, France
⁴⁰ Ecole Polytechnique, IN2P3-CNRS, Laboratoire Leprince-Ringuet, 91120, Palaiseau, France
⁴¹ Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), 60510, Batavia, IL, USA
⁴² Fukui University, Fukui, Japan
⁴³ IFIC, CSIC/Universitat de Valencia, 46980, Valencia, Spain
⁴⁴ IJC Laboratory CNRS/IN2P3, Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay, France
⁴⁵ High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Tsukuba, Japan
⁴⁶ Louisiana State University, 70820, Baton Rouge, LA, USA
⁴⁷ Nagoya Proton Therapy Center, Nagoya City University West Medical Center, Nagoya, Japan
⁴⁸ Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 37830, Oak Ridge, TN, USA
⁴⁹ SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, 94025-7090, Menlo Park, CA, USA
⁵⁰ Tokyo University of Science, Noda, Japan

^ag christian.buck@mpi-hd.mpg.de

Received: 14 February 2022
Accepted: 18 August 2022
Published online: 8 September 2022

Abstract

This article describes the setup and performance of the near and far detectors in the Double Chooz experiment. The electron antineutrinos of the Chooz nuclear power plant were measured in two identically designed detectors with different average baselines of about 400 m and 1050 m from the two reactor cores. Over many years of data taking the neutrino signals were extracted from interactions in the detectors with the goal of measuring a fundamental parameter in the context of neutrino oscillation, the mixing angle ${\theta }_{13}$. The central part of the Double Chooz detectors was a main detector comprising four cylindrical volumes filled with organic liquids. From the inside towards the outside there were volumes containing gadolinium-loaded scintillator, gadolinium-free scintillator, a buffer oil and, optically separated, another liquid scintillator acting as veto system. Above this main detector an additional outer veto system using plastic scintillator strips was installed. The technologies developed in Double Chooz were inspiration for several other antineutrino detectors in the field. The detector design allowed implementation of efficient background rejection techniques including use of pulse shape information provided by the data acquisition system. The Double Chooz detectors featured remarkable stability, in particular for the detected photons, as well as high radiopurity of the detector components.