Dichroicons: Spectral Photon Sorting for Neutrino Detectors

Many neutrino detectors use photons as their primary event detection method, typically detecting numbers of photons and their arrival times. Photons also carry information about an event through their wavelength, polarization, and direction, but often little to none of this information is utilized. The "dichroicon," a Winston-style light cone comprised of dichroic filters, allows detectors to use the wavelength information encoded in photons. This talk will discuss the planned deployment of dichroicons in Eos, a 30 ton hybrid Cherenkov-scintillation detector. Eos will serve as a demonstrator for very large scale neutrino detectors, including Theia, whose research program includes a double beta decay search that will go beyond the inverted hierarchy. Eos will feature 12 large-scale dichroicons at the bottom of the detector. Monte Carlo predictions of dichroicon performance in large detectors such as Eos and Theia will be presented. This will include studies of the discrimination between Cherenkov and scintillation light, new handles on particle ID, and novel reconstruction techniques that leverage the advantages of both Cherenkov and scintillation light.