Abstract
Neutrino detectors, particle calorimeters and some dark matter detectors require dense and massive active materials. An extremely fine segmentation is desirable to achieve precise three-dimensional particle tracking. However, such systems introduce significant challenges in construction and demand a large number of readout electronics channels, leading to extremely high costs. In this article, we propose an alternative approach to elementary particle detection that enables ultrafast three-dimensional high-resolution imaging in large volumes of unsegmented scintillator. Enabling technologies are plenoptic systems and time-resolving single-photon avalanche diode array imaging sensors. Together, they enabled us, using a plenoptic camera, to reconstruct the origin of single photons in the scintillator. A case study focused on neutrino detection demonstrates full event reconstruction with a spatial resolution of two hundred micrometres. This work paves the way for a class of particle detectors whose capabilities should be further enhanced through future developments and expanded to Cherenkov light detection, medical imaging and neutron detection.
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Data availability
The minimum dataset necessary to interpret, verify and extend the findings of this study has been deposited in Zenodo: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18701772. This record contains a representative subsample of the dataset, with accompanying metadata/documentation, sufficient to reproduce the analyses reported in the paper.
Code availability
The code used in this work is not publicly available at this time due to ongoing intellectual property protection efforts. It may be made available upon request, subject to appropriate terms and, where applicable, the execution of a non-disclosure agreement.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation under grantPCEFP2_203261. This research was also partially supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (grant 20QT21_187716 Qu3D “Quantum 3D Imaging at high speed and high resolution"). Neural network training in this work used resources of the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), a U.S. Department of Energy User Facility, under the AI4Sci@NERSC award DDR-ERCAP0034642. Additional training support was provided through the Swiss AI Initiative via a grant from the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS), project ID a149, on the Alps system. We would like to thank Prof. André Rubbia from ETH Zurich for useful inputs and discussions and for providing access to laboratory equipment and facilities; Prof. Vincenzo Berardi at Politecnico di Bari, Dr. Umut Kose and Johannes Wüthrich from ETH Zurich for useful discussions; Arne Erdmann from Raytrix GmbH for helping to understand the functioning of the plenoptic camera prototype assembled at Raytrix and the use of the RxLive software; Prof. Wallny at ETH Zurich for providing access to his group’s thermal chamber.
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D.S. conceived the PLATON detector, is the PI of the project funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, and supervised every aspect of the project. T.D. was the main analyser and developer. The plenoptic system of the prototype was designed and built by Raytrix GmbH. E.C., C.B., and K.K. provided the SPAD array photosensor, assisted with its use, offered guidance, and supervised the project to ensure understanding of the results. T.D., T.W., and M.F. set up the tests in the laboratory. T.D. ran the experiments, developed the software and analysed the data. T.D., S.A.-M., and D.S. conceived the standard image post-processing method, and T.D. developed and tested it. T.D. developed and tested the software for the simulation of the detector. T.D. studied the detector configuration of the simulated physics experiments. Also, C.A. worked on the detector simulation. S.A.-M. conceived, developed, trained, and validated the neural-network-based image post-processing. N.B., S.A.-M., and T.D. performed the pattern recognition and data analysis of the simulated neutrino experiment. All the authors contributed to the writing of the paper. This document was prepared by Swiss Federal Institute of Technology-Zurich (ETH Zurich), in part as a result of the use of facilities of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), which are managed by The Regents of the University of California, acting under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. Neither The Regents of the University of California, DOE, the U.S. Government, nor any person acting on their behalf: (a) make any warranty or representation, express or implied, with respect to the information contained in this document; or (b) assume any liabilities with respect to the use of, or damages resulting from the use of any information contained in the document.
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The authors declare the following competing interests: T.D., S.A.-M., and D.S. are named inventors on a patent application filed by ETH Zurich related to the technology described in this article (status: pending). E.C. is a co-founder of NovoViz. NovoViz was not involved in this work or in the drafting of this paper. C.A., C.B., N.B., K.K., T.W., and M.F. declare no competing interests.
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Dieminger, T., Alonso-Monsalve, S., Alt, C. et al. An ultrafast plenoptic-camera system for high-resolution 3D particle tracking in unsegmented scintillators. Nat Commun (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-70918-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-70918-x
