First light from beam neutrinos on an LAPPD in ANNIE

Abstract

The Accelerator Neutrino Neutron Interaction Experiment (ANNIE) is both a physics experiment and a technology testbed for next-generation light-based neutrino detection. In this paper, we report the first demonstration of a fully integrated Large Area Picosecond Photodetector (LAPPD) operating in a running neutrino beam experiment. Particular focus is given to the design, commissioning, and successful deployment of the Packaged ANNIE LAPPD (PAL), a waterproof, self-triggering module incorporating fast waveform digitization and precision timing synchronized to the ANNIE detector subsystems. We identify beam-correlated LAPPD data frames consistent with charged-current neutrino interactions observed in multiple detector subsystems, establishing the first detection of neutrino-induced Cherenkov light with an LAPPD. These results validate the system-level performance of LAPPDs under realistic experimental conditions — including long-term stability, timing synchronization, and event matching with conventional PMT and muon detector systems — marking a critical step toward their deployment in future large-scale neutrino and particle detectors.

Metadata

Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Abubakar, S. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1511-2219 Adams, B.W. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4725-6583 Ajana, D. https://orcid.org/0009-0004-9864-3705 Aman, M.A. https://orcid.org/0009-0002-6318-8170 Ascencio-Sosa, M. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5066-9675 Augusthy, A. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6645-2929 Bagdasarian, Z. Beacom, J. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0005-2631 Bergevin, M. Bick, D. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5657-8248 Breisch, M. Brunner-Huber, E. Caceres Vera, G. Dazeley, S. Deng, S. Donnelly, S. Doran, S. https://orcid.org/0009-0004-0866-1580 Drakopoulou, E. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2493-8039 Edayath, S. Edwards, R. Eisch, J. Feng, Y. Fischer, V. Foster, R. Gardiner, S. Goehlke, N. https://orcid.org/0009-0001-5708-9718 Gokhale, S. Gupta, A. Hackspacher, P. Hagner, C. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6345-7022 He, J. Kaiser, B. Kandemir, M. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3642-9699 Kautz, J. Krennrich, F. Kumar, M. Lachenmaier, T. Lemmons, F. Lucas, M. Maksimovic, D. Malek, M. Martyn, J. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7158-0389 Mastbaum, A. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1132-2270 McGivern, C. Minock, J. Nguyen, C. Nieslony, M. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6110-0895 O'Flaherty, M. Orebi Gann, G.D. Ozdemir, B.K. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2018-070X Pershing, T. Pickard, L. Poonthottathil, N. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3476-6330 Pottebaum, E. Reyes, C. Richards, B. Rosero, R. Sanchez, M.C. Schmid, D.T. Smy, M. Sogarwal, H. Stender, M. Sutton, A. Svoboda, R. Sweeney, C. Tiras, E. Vagins, M. Veeraraghavan, V. Wang, J. Weinstein, A. Wetstein, M. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7880-3004 Wurm, M. Yeh, M. Zhang, T.
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information:	© 2026 The Authors. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Dates:	Accepted: 7 December 2025 Published (online): 3 February 2026 Published: 3 February 2026
Institution:	The University of Sheffield
Academic Units:	The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences
Date Deposited:	09 Feb 2026 12:45
Last Modified:	09 Feb 2026 12:45
Published Version:	https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/21/02/p02002
Status:	Published
Publisher:	IOP Publishing
Refereed:	Yes
Identification Number:	10.1088/1748-0221/21/02/p02002
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID):	oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:237691

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First light from beam neutrinos on an LAPPD in ANNIE

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