@article{Araujo:2026:epjc/s10052-026-15920-9,
author = {Araujo, GR and Baudis, L and Bowden, N and Chapman, J and Erickson, A and Guerrero, Perez M and Hecht, AA and Hedges, SC and Huber, P and Ivanov, V and Jovanovic, I and Khodaparast, GA and Magill, BA and Mateos, JM and Morrison, M and Smith, NWG and Stengel, P and Surani, S and Vladimirov, N and Walkup, K and Wittweg, C and Zhang, X},
doi = {epjc/s10052-026-15920-9},
journal = {The European Physical Journal C},
title = {Nuclear recoil detection with color centers in bulk lithium fluoride},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-026-15920-9},
volume = {86},
year = {2026}
}

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TY  - JOUR
AB  - <jats:title>Abstract</jats:title>                  <jats:p>We present initial results on the detection of nuclear recoils in lithium fluoride (LiF) through the fluorescence of color centers created by particle interactions in the crystal lattice. Using light-sheet fluorescence microscopy, we image nuclear recoil tracks from both fast and thermal neutron interactions deep within a cubic-centimeter-scale sample. Automated three-dimensional feature extraction based on machine-learning tools enables the identification and classification of individual events. We observe that the fluorescence response of LiF to gamma irradiation is strongly suppressed, by a factor of 30–50 compared to neutron exposure, demonstrating intrinsic insensitivity to electromagnetic backgrounds. The observed and simulated event characteristics are consistent, including their number, size, and topology. These results establish the feasibility of LiF as a scalable detection medium for rare nuclear-recoil events and constitute a first step toward 10–1000 g scale detectors with single-event sensitivity for applications in reactor-neutrino detection, neutron spectroscopy, and dark matter searches.</jats:p>
AU  - Araujo,GR
AU  - Baudis,L
AU  - Bowden,N
AU  - Chapman,J
AU  - Erickson,A
AU  - Guerrero,Perez M
AU  - Hecht,AA
AU  - Hedges,SC
AU  - Huber,P
AU  - Ivanov,V
AU  - Jovanovic,I
AU  - Khodaparast,GA
AU  - Magill,BA
AU  - Mateos,JM
AU  - Morrison,M
AU  - Smith,NWG
AU  - Stengel,P
AU  - Surani,S
AU  - Vladimirov,N
AU  - Walkup,K
AU  - Wittweg,C
AU  - Zhang,X
DO  - epjc/s10052-026-15920-9
PY  - 2026///
TI  - Nuclear recoil detection with color centers in bulk lithium fluoride
T2  - The European Physical Journal C
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-026-15920-9
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-026-15920-9
VL  - 86
ER  - 

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