Measurements of radio propagation in rock salt for the detection of high-energy neutrinos

Abstract

We present measurements of the transmission of radio/microwave pulses through salt in the Cote Blanche salt mine operated by the North American Salt Company in St. Mary Parish, Louisiana. These results are from data taken in the southwestern region of the 1500 ft (457 m) deep level of the mine on our third and most recent visit to the mine. We transmitted and received a fast, high-power, broadband pulse from within three vertical boreholes that were drilled to depths of 100 ft (30 m) and 200 ft below the 1500 ft level using three different pairs of dipole antennas whose bandwidths span 125–900 MHz. By measuring the relative strength of the received pulses between boreholes with separations of 50 and 169 m, we deduce the attenuation of the signal attributed to the salt medium. We fit the frequency dependence of the attenuation to a power law and find the best fit field attenuation lengths to be 93 ± 7 m at 150 MHz, 63 ± 3 m at 300 MHz, and 36 ± 2 m at 800 MHz. This is the most precise measurement of radio attenuation in a natural salt formation to date. We assess the implications of this measurement for a future neutrino detector in salt.