Development and Creation of a Prototype Detector for the Observation of Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay of \({}^{{150}}\)Nd

Abstract

The study details the development and testing of a scintillation detector prototype designed to investigate neutrinoless double beta decay in \({}^{150}\)Nd. For this purpose, a liquid organic scintillator loaded with neodymium was formulated to serve as the active medium. The scintillator’s light yield and transmission properties were simulated, and a digital twin of the full experimental setup was developed to aid in its design. The prototype detector was subsequently assembled and installed in the low-background underground laboratory DULB-4900 at the BNO INR RAS. A series of calibrations were performed using radioactive sources, followed by an extended background data acquisition campaign lasting over 2000 hours. Analysis of the accumulated data allowed us to define the required radiopurity levels for the detector components, which is a critical prerequisite for achieving the target sensitivity in a future large-scale experiment.