Scintillators in the search for neutrinoless double-beta decay: Technologies, status, and prospects

Neutrinoless double-beta decay ( 0 ν β β ) is a key process for addressing fundamental questions about physics beyond the Standard Model and neutrino physics. Motivated by these goals, an extensive research effort has produced a wide range of increasingly sophisticated experimental approaches. Among the most widely adopted technologies are scintillators, in all their forms. Scintillators offer flexible detector configurations, high radiopurity, good detector performance and scalability to large mass of candidate isotopes. In many experiments, scintillators serve as primary detection media or are coupled with dual-readout schemes, such as light+heat or light+ionization, that greatly enhance background rejection and overall sensitivity. This review provides a comprehensive overview of scintillating technologies used in the search for 0 ν β β , discussing their operating principles, the main experimental implementations, and the prospects for next-generation detectors.