CERN Neutrino Platform

Focus

CERN's hub for design, prototype construction, and testing of neutrino detector technology, primarily in support of the international long-baseline program.

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Role

The CERN Neutrino Platform was established in 2014 following the recommendations of the European Strategy for Particle Physics, which identified neutrino oscillation — particularly at long-baseline accelerator experiments — as a priority for European involvement in the global program.

Rather than hosting its own long-baseline experiment (Europe having concluded the CNGS program in 2012), CERN contributes as a design, prototype, and test-beam facility supporting US and Japanese flagship projects.

Prototype facilities

The Platform has constructed two prototype liquid argon time-projection chambers:

• ProtoDUNE Single-Phase (2018–) — 770 t active volume, tested in a CERN charged-particle beamline
• ProtoDUNE Dual-Phase (2019–) — alternative readout technology, evaluated through 2021

These prototypes directly informed the DUNE far-detector design and have provided calibration, reconstruction, and operational experience at scale.

Short-baseline contributions

CERN has built and shipped detectors for the Fermilab Short-Baseline Neutrino Program, including portions of ICARUS (relocated from Gran Sasso to Fermilab) and Baby MIND for T2K-II at J-PARC.

Future

The Platform is preparing for expanded R&D support of DUNE Phase-II, Hyper-Kamiokande, and potential European-led efforts in neutrino-factory and muon-collider contexts.

Significance

The CERN Neutrino Platform demonstrates CERN’s role as a trans-national hub for detector R&D independently of whether CERN itself operates an associated physics experiment. The ProtoDUNE achievement is widely cited as the most complete prototype deployment in particle physics in the past two decades.