The Borexino scintillator and solvent procurement
Marco Giammarchi
International Journal of Modern Physics A
Vol. 29, No. 16, 1442007 (2014)
SPECIAL ISSUE – Technologies of the Borexino Experiment
doi: 10.1142/S0217751X1442007X [local copy]
Abstract
The Borexino experiment for solar neutrino physics and other rare phenomena requires an extremely low radioactive background to disentangle the very few events due to neutrino interactions. Therefore, the Borexino scintillator has to satisfy the most stringent radiopurity requirements, being about eight orders of magnitude less radioactive than an ordinary material. This was achieved by means of scintillator purification techniques and of a special care during all the production, handling and procurement of the scintillator solvent. This paper describes the methodology and the quality control procedures that were employed during the production, handling and shipping of the solvent.