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At least 37 records · Page 2

Design and commissioning of readout electronics for a $K$$^{0}_{L}$ and $μ$ detector at the Belle II experiment

The K-long and muon detector (KLM) constitutes the outer-most volume of the Belle II spectrometer at the interaction region of the SuperKEKB collider in Tsukuba, Japan. The KLM detector was partially upgraded since the Belle experiment by replacing many of its resistive-plate chambers with scintillators containing wavelength-shifting fibers and instrumenting it with silicon photomultipliers. Here, we describe the readout electronics, firmware, and software created to control and acquire data from the scintillators and resistive-plate chambers.

Belle II↗

DarkNESS: Characterization of Space Multi-Chip Module Skipper-CCDs and Readout Electronics

The DarkNESS mission has the goal of deploying a 6U CubeSat fitted with an array of skipper-CCDs in Low Earth Orbit (~400 km). The new instrument will take measurements of diffuse x-rays and look for signatures of dark matter decay in the spectrum. DarkNESS will also perform a direct search for strongly interacting sub-GeV dark matter in regions of the parameter space not accessible to ground based experiments [1]. Skipper-CCDs allow for low-noise astronomical observations which can extend the discovery reach for direct dark matter search experiments. This paper will discuss the laboratory characterization of the two key components of the scientific payload: the space Multi-Chip Module (sMCM), and their readout electronics.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

A rack-mounted precision waveguide-below-cutoff attenuator with an absolute electronic readout

A coaxial precision waveguide-below-cutoff attenuator is described which uses an absolute (unambiguous) electronic digital readout of displacement in inches in addition to the usual gear driven mechanical counter-dial readout in decibels. The attenuator is rack-mountable and has the input and output RF connectors in a fixed position. The attenuation rate for 55, 50, and 30 MHz operation is given along with a discussion of sources of errors. In addition, information is included to aid the user in making adjustments on the attenuator should it be damaged or disassembled for any reason.

Cook, C. C.↗

The Readout Electronics of the Mu2e Electromagnetic Calorimeter

The Mu2e electromagnetic calorimeter has been designed to measure ~100 MeV electrons with energy resolution σE/E <10%, time resolution σt < 500ps and position resolution σx < 1cm. The detector is composed of 1348 un-doped CsI crystals coupled to two large area Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs). Each SiPM is connected to a Front End Electronics (FEE) chip which hosts the shaping amplifier and the high voltage linear regulator. A group of 20 FEE is controlled by one Mezzanine Board (MB) which transmits the amplified signals to one Digitizer ReAdout Controller board (DiRAC). The DiRAC samples the waveforms at 200 MHz with 12-bit ADCs, packs the data according to the Mu2e custom format and transmits them to the event builder through an optical transceiver. To limit the number of pass-through connectors and the length of the cables, the readout and digitization electronics is located inside the detector cryostat and close to the interaction target. The boards will have to sustain a neutron fluence of about 5x10 10 n/cm 2 @ 1 MeVeq (Si)/y and a Total Ionizing Dose of about 12 krad, while working into a 1T magnetic field and a vacuum of 10 (-4) Torr. This harsh operational environment has made the electronics design challenging and required an extended campaign of tests to select and qualify the employed electronic components. In this paper we report on the board architecture and design, on the qualification of the prototypes, as well as on the results of the first vertical slice test of the Mu2e calorimeter.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Status of the Mu2e calorimeter readout electronics

The Mu2e experiment [1] at Fermilab will search for the neutrino-less coherent conversion of a muon into an electron in the field of a nucleus. Mu2e detectors comprise a straw tracker, an electromagnetic calorimeter and a veto for cosmic rays. The calorimeter employs 1348 Cesium Iodide crystals readout by silicon photomultipliers and fast front-end and digitization electronics. The front-end electronics consists of two discrete readout circuits (AMP-HV) for each crystal. These provide the amplification, shaping stage and linear regulation of the SiPM bias voltage and monitoring. The SiPM and front-end control electronics is implemented in a battery of mezzanine boards each equipped with an ARM processor that controls a group of 20 Amp-HV circuits distributing the low voltage and the high-voltage. The electronic is hosted in crates located on the external surface of calorimeter disks. The crates also host the waveform digitizer board (DIRAC) that performs digitization of the front end signals and transmit the digitized data to the Mu2e DAQ. Calorimeter electronic is hosted inside the cryostat and must sustain very high radiation and magnetic field so it was necessary to fully qualify it. The system design and quality assurance procedures will be reviewed.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Readout electronics for the CMS Phase II Endcap Calorimeter: system overview and prototyping experience

Abstract The frontend readout system for the silicon section of the CMS Phase II Endcap Calorimeter faces unique challenges due to the high channel count and associated bandwidth, limited physical space, as well as radiation tolerance requirements. I will give an overview of the frontend electronics design and will discuss the recent experience obtained from the first test system that integrates the HGCROC2 readout ASIC, lpGBT, and VTRX+ in a realistic manner, linking together prototypes of the hexaboard, engine, and wagon boards.

Instruments & Instrumentation↗

Portable high-resolution laser monochromator-interferometer with multichannel electronic readout

A high-resolution 0.4-m monochromator is described for use in wavelength diagnosis of tunable pulsed and CW laser sources in the 3000-10,000-A region. The f/20 design uses an echelle grating in an over-and-under Ebert configuration with a scanned photodiode array to provide a real-time multichannel display of spectral output. Absolute wavelength may be determined to 0.1 A with the monochromator, and a Fabry-Perot interferometer attachment extends linewidth measurement capability to 0.01 A or better. Spectra are displayed on a storage oscilloscope, and calculation of laser parameters is explained. The instrument measures 70 cm long x 15 cm wide x 20 cm high.

Morris, M. B.↗

Germanium JFET for Cryogenic Readout Electronics

The n-channel Germanium junction field effect transistor (Ge-JFET) was designed and fabricated for cryogenic applications. The Ge-JFET exhibits superior noise performance at liquid nitrogen temperature (77 K). From the device current voltage characteristics of n-channel JFETs, it is seen that transconductance increases monotonically with the lowering of temperature to 4.2 K (liquid helium temperature).

Das, N. C.↗

Bandwidth and Aliasing in the Microwave SQUID Multiplexer

The microwave SQUID multiplexer (μmux) has enabled higher bandwidth or higher channel counts across a wide range of experiments in particle physics, astronomy, and spectroscopy. The large multiplexing factor coupled with recent commercial availability of microwave components and warm electronics readout systems make it an attractive candidate for systems requiring large cryogenic detector counts. Since the multiplexer is considered for both bolometric and calorimetric applications across several orders of magnitude of signal frequencies, understanding the bandwidth of the device and its interaction with readout electronics is key to appropriately designing and engineering systems. Here we discuss several important factors contributing to the bandwidth properties of μmux systems, including the intrinsic device bandwidth, interactions with warm electronics readout systems, and aliasing. Further, we present simulations and measurements of μmux devices coupled with SLAC Microresonator RF (SMuRF) tone-tracking electronics and discuss several implications for future experimental design.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Fabrication of Tunnel Junctions For Direct Detector Arrays With Single-Electron Transistor Readout Using Electron-Beam Lithography

This paper will describe the fabrication of small aluminum tunnel junctions for applications in astronomy. Antenna-coupled superconducting tunnel junctions with integrated single-electron transistor readout have the potential for photon-counting sensitivity at sub-millimeter wavelengths. The junctions for the detector and single-electron transistor can be made with electron-beam lithography and a standard self-aligned double-angle deposition process. However, high yield and uniformity of the junctions is required for large-format detector arrays. This paper will describe how measurement and modification of the sensitivity ratio in the resist bilayer was used to greatly improve the reliability of forming devices with uniform, sub-micron size, low-leakage junctions.

Stevenson, T. R.↗

Multi-amplifier Sensing Charge-coupled Devices for Next Generation Spectroscopy

We present characterization results and performance of a prototype Multiple-Amplifier Sensing (MAS) silicon charge-coupled device (CCD) sensor with 16 channels potentially suitable for faint object astronomical spectroscopy and low-signal, photon-limited imaging. The MAS CCD is designed to reach sub-electron readout noise by repeatedly measuring charge through a line of amplifiers during the serial transfer shifts. Using synchronized readout electronics based on the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument CCD controller, we report a read noise of 1.03 e$^{−}$ rms pix$^{−1}$ at a speed of 26 μs pix$^{−1}$ with a single-sample readout scheme where charge in a pixel is measured only once for each output stage. At these operating parameters, we find the amplifier-to-amplifier charge transfer efficiency (ACTE) to be >0.9995 at low counts for all amplifiers but one for which the ACTE is 0.997. This charge transfer efficiency falls above 50,000 electrons for the read-noise optimized voltage configuration we chose for the serial clocks and gates. The amplifier linearity across a broad dynamic range from ∼300 to 35,000 e$^{−}$ was also measured to be ±2.5%. We describe key operating parameters to optimize on these characteristics and describe the specific applications for which the MAS CCD may be a suitable detector candidate.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Moire deflectometry with deferred electronic heterodyne readout

The electronic heterodyne technique is applied to the task of deferred readout of phase objects' moire fringes. In combination with the heterodyne readout technique, moire deflectometry constitutes a powerful tool for the study of phase objects, exhibiting high sensitivity, ease of automation and recording, low cost, use of incoherent illumination, and independence from fringe contrast variations.

Stricker, J.↗

Recoil imaging for dark matter, neutrinos, and physics beyond the Standard Model

Recoil imaging entails the detection of spatially resolved ionization tracks generated by particle interactions. This is a highly sought-after capability in many classes of detector, with broad applications across particle and astroparticle physics. However, at low energies, where ionization signatures are small in size, recoil imaging only seems to be a practical goal for micro-pattern gas detectors. This white paper outlines the physics case for recoil imaging, and puts forward a decadal plan to advance towards the directional detection of low-energy recoils with sensitivity and resolution close to fundamental performance limits. The science case covered includes: the discovery of dark matter into the neutrino fog, directional detection of sub-MeV solar neutrinos, the precision study of coherent-elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering, the detection of solar axions, the measurement of the Migdal effect, X-ray polarimetry, and several other applied physics goals. We also outline the R&D programs necessary to test concepts that are crucial to advance detector performance towards their fundamental limit: single primary electron sensitivity with full 3D spatial resolution at the $\sim$100 micron-scale. These advancements include: the use of negative ion drift, electron counting with high-definition electronic readout, time projection chambers with optical readout, and the possibility for nuclear recoil tracking in high-density gases such as argon. We also discuss the readout and electronics systems needed to scale-up such detectors to the ton-scale and beyond.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Electronic heterodyne readout of fringes in moire deflectometry

An electronic heterodyne technique is described for the readout of fringes in moire deflectometry. The technique is based on phase measurements of signals generated by a photodetector observing the light transmitted through a traveling moire fringe pattern. The phase of the signal is proportional to the fringe deviation and thus to the deflection angle of the light ray. The phase is measured on line by a standard phase meter with an accuracy of 1 deg or 1:360 of a fringe. The technique, which is precise and sensitive, is demonstrated by detecting and measuring a fringe shift of 0.15 mm corresponding to 0.029 of a fringe.

Stricker, J.↗

Performance of moire deflectometry with deferred electronic heterodyne readout

The effects of diffraction and nonlinear photographic emulsion characteristics on the performance of deferred electronic heterodyne moire deflectometry are theoretically and experimentally investigated. The intensity transmission distribution of the transparency, the moire image, the heterodyne readout, and the spatial and angular resolution are analytically discussed. The deferred electronic heterodyne technique is evaluated by measuring small fringe shifts caused by a weak phase object. It is found that this technique can be applied for accurate and sensitive readout of moire fringes of unsteady phase objects. The theoretical study shows that the accuracy and sensitivity of the system are weakly affected by diffraction and nonlinear photographic emulsion characteristics. Nonlinear recording does not affect the spatial resolution of the system.

Stricker, Josef↗

Front-End Design for SiPM-Based Monolithic Neutron Double Scatter Imagers

Neutron double scatter imaging exploits the kinematics of neutron elastic scattering to enable emission imaging of neutron sources. Due to the relatively low coincidence detection efficiency of fast neutrons in organic scintillator arrays, imaging efficiency for double scatter cameras can also be low. One method to realize significant gains in neutron coincidence detection efficiency is to develop neutron double scatter detectors which employ monolithic blocks of organic scintillator, instrumented with photosensor arrays on multiple faces to enable 3D position and multi-interaction time pickoff. Silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) have several advantageous characteristics for this approach, including high photon detection efficiency (PDE), good single photon time resolution (SPTR), high gain that translates to single photon counting capabilities, and ability to be tiled into large arrays with high packing fraction and photosensitive area fill factor. However, they also have a tradeoff in high uncorrelated and correlated noise rates (dark counts from thermionic emissions and optical photon crosstalk generated during avalanche) which may complicate event positioning algorithms. We have evaluated the noise characteristics and SPTR of Hamamatsu S13360-6075 SiPMs with low noise, fast electronic readout for integration into a monolithic neutron scatter camera prototype. The sensors and electronic readout were implemented in a small-scale prototype detector in order to estimate expected noise performance for a monolithic neutron scatter camera and perform proof-of-concept measurements for scintillation photon counting and three-dimensional event positioning.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗