Liquid scintillator development for solar and supernova neutrino detection

We report about new results from elastic neutron scattering experiments on protons contained in samples of a LAB-based liquid scintillator. This measurements have been performed at the MLL accelerator laboratory in Garching, Germany. We measure the quenching factor of the light emitted by recoil-protons as a function of energy and we determine the pulse-shape discrimination capability of LAB-based liquid scintillators in order to probe the feasibility of future low energy neutrino experiments to separate neutrino events from background signals, which are caused by fast neutrons. This studies were performed first in the context of the project LENA (Low Energy Neutrino Astronomy) where a 50 kton liquid scintillator detector in the underground laboratory at Pyhäsalmi, Finland, was proposed. However, the results obtained are also applicable for the upcoming JUNO (Jiang-men Underground Neutrino Observatory) neutrino experiment in China, where a 20 kton neutrino detector with a LAB-based liquid scintillator will be used.