Measurement of proton light yield of water-based liquid scintillator

Abstract The proton light yield of liquid scintillators is an important property in the context their use large-scale neutrino experiments, with direct implications for neutrino-proton scattering measurements and discrimination fast neutrons from inverse $$\beta $$ β -decay coincidence signals. This work presents first measurement a water-based scintillator (WbLS) formulated 5% linear alkyl benzene (LAB), at energies below 20 MeV, as well pure LAB + 2 g/L 2,5-diphenyloxazole (PPO) mixture (LABPPO). were performed using double time-of-flight method pulsed neutron beam 88-Inch Cyclotron Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. yields measured relative to that 477 keV electron. WbLS was approximately 3.8% lower than LABPPO, itself exhibiting 15–20% higher previous analogous anoxic sample. observed quenching not compatible Birks model either material, but described addition Chou’s bimolecular term.