Abstract

The SoLid collaboration have developed a highly segmented, composite scintillator neutrino detector to measure the anti-neutrino energy spectrum less than 10 m from a nuclear reactor core. The collaboration has built and deployed an 8 kg prototype and a 288 kg detector module at the BR2 nuclear reactor. We are currently working towards deploying a tonne scale detector in 2016. In this seminar I will summarise the experiment’s motivations from anomalies in previous neutrino experiments, an unexpected bump in the reactor anti-neutrino energy spectrum and the monitoring of reactors for safeguards purposes. I will explain the novel detector concepts that allow the measurement of the anti-neutrino energy spectrum in a challenging environment. I will then cover our recent progress with the two detectors we have deployed at BR2 before finishing with details of the challenges and planned improvements for deploying a tonne scale detector.