NeutrinoCenter.org | Neutrino Detector Technologies

Major types of neutrino detectors are classified by the detection medium and interaction technique:

Detector type, Detection medium, Main signal, Example experiments

1. Water Cherenkov Detector: Pure water, Cherenkov light from charged particles, Super-Kamiokande, Hyper-Kamiokande

2. Heavy-water Cherenkov Detector: D₂O, Cherenkov light + neutral-current sensitivity, SNO

3. Ice Cherenkov Detector: Antarctic/glacial ice, Cherenkov light, IceCube, PINGU concept

4. Deep-Sea / Lake Cherenkov Detector: Seawater or lake water, Cherenkov light, KM3NeT, Baikal-GVD, ANTARES

5. Liquid Scintillator Detector: Organic scintillator, Scintillation light, KamLAND, Borexino, JUNO

6. Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber: Liquid argon, Ionization charge + scintillation light, DUNE, ICARUS, MicroBooNE

7. Tracking Calorimeter Detector: Iron/scintillator, plastic, emulsion, etc., Particle tracks + energy deposition, MINOS, NOvA, OPERA

8. Nuclear Emulsion Detector: Photographic emulsion layers, Microscopic charged-particle tracks, OPERA, DONUT

9. Radiochemical Detector: Chlorine or gallium, Neutrino-induced nuclear transmutation, Homestake, GALLEX, SAGE

10. Coherent elastic neutrino–nucleus scattering detector: CsI, Ge, Ar, Xe, etc., Tiny nuclear recoil, COHERENT

11. Radio Neutrino Detector: Ice, salt, lunar regolith, Askaryan radio pulse, ARA, ARIANNA, RNO-G

12. Acoustic Neutrino Detector: Water or ice, Pressure pulse from particle shower, Experimental /R&D concepts

13. Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO): Air Shower.

Simple Terms:

• Low-energy solar / reactor neutrinos → Scintillator, radiochemical, water Cherenkov

• Accelerator neutrinos → Liquid argon TPC, tracking calorimeter, Cherenkov

• High-energy cosmic neutrinos → ice / water Cherenkov, radio detectors

• Ultra-high-energy neutrinos → Radio and acoustic detection concepts