2007-05-15 – Inside view of the Borexino detector (camera #1). Borexino filling completed today @ 11:24:55 CEST. SSS is now full of scintillator, we’re almost ready to start the DAQ!
Water Tank filling completed
Water Tank filling completed on May 14, 2007. We’re getting closer…
Inner Vessel filling completed
PC procurement completed
PC procurement at Sarroch completed Borexino use a solution of PPO (a flour) in PC (pseudocumene, an organic solvent) as its scintillator (active detector mass) and a solution of DMP (a quencher) in the same solvent as a buffer fluid
About 300 m³ of PC in the SSS
Borexino filling goes on: About 300 m³ of PC in the SSS. In the following picture you can see the inside of the Borexino Stainless Steel Sphere as seen from camera #1. The water inside the SSS (and Inner Vessel)
Water Tank filling has begun
Borexino “Water Tank” filling operations have begun. Ultrapure water in the WT will serve both as a shield against the external natural radioactivity background and as a Cherenkov detector for muon veto. The picture below was taken at the beginning of
PC delivery from Sarroch to LNGS has begun
PC delivery from Sarroch to LNGS has begun. PC (pseudocumene) delivery from the production plant in Sarroch (Sardinia island, Italy) to LNGS has begun. Four special Isotanks will be used for PC transportation. They will go back and forth in
First batch of scintillator (~11,000 liters) in Borexino!
Borexino SSS filled with water
Another step completed: the Borexino Stainless Steel Sphere (SSS) has been completely filled with ultra-pure water. Next steps: replace the water with buffer liquid and scintillator; filling the Water Tank with ultra-pure water (shield).
Video: Borexino internal nylon vessels installation
Videos of the Borexino nylon vessels installation (Jan – May, 2004). Here are some time-lapse videos of the whole operation, as seen by Borexino’s internal CCD photo-cameras, mounted on the Stainless Steel Sphere (inside dedicated sealed chambers, with special glass
Nylon vessels installed and inflated
Installation of the two concentric nylon inner vessels of the Borexino detector have been completed. Both vessels have been inflated with ultra-pure, humidified nitrogen gas, which will be eventually replaced by the final liquids.
Video: CTF2 filling
CTF2 filling (May 22 – Jun 18, 2001), time-lapse video from the CTF internal CCTV camera (consider the effects from reflection and refraction as the water level approaches and gets over the position of the camera).
How Borexino will stare at the Sun
How Borexino will stare at the Sun CERN Courier, 23 September 1998 A new ultra-sensitive experiment to detect solar neutrinos is being built underground in Italy. As construction at the Gran Sasso laboratory nears completion, Gianpaolo Bellini explains how the
Ultra-low background measurements in a large volume underground detector
CTF achieved records in the domain of ultra-low background, large volume detectors. These encouraging results point towards the feasibility of detectors like Borexino.
Borexino: Proposal for a low energy solar neutrino detector
Detailed Proposal for the Borexino experiment at LNGS, a real time detector for low energy solar neutrino, by G. Bellini, R. S. Raghavan et al.
Design Concepts for BOREX
The proposal for “BOREX” (BORon solar neutrino EXperiment) at LNGS. Such experiment was never realized, but although radically different in concept, goals and design, Borexino was named after it.