C. Soos

Radiation Damage Studies of Lasers and Photodiodes for Use in Multi-Gb/s Optical Data Links

Neutron and pion irradiation and annealing data from semiconductor lasers and photodiodes for use in 10 Gb/s datalinks are presented. These components are found to be generally more radiation resistant than their older counterparts. Radiation damage in lasers has been modeled to allow extrapolation of the results obtained to the final application.

Implementing the GBT data transmission protocol in FPGAs

The GBT chip [1] is a radiation tolerant ASIC that can be used to implement bidirectional multipurpose 4.8Gb/s optical links for high-energy physics experiments. It will be proposed to the LHC experiments for combined transmission of physics data, trigger, timing, fast and slow control and monitoring. Although radiation hardness is required on detectors, it is not necessary for the electronics located in the counting rooms, where the GBT functionality can be realized using Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) components. This paper describes efficient physical implementation of the GBT protocol achieved for FPGA devices on Altera and Xilinx devices with source codes developed in Verilog and VHDL. The current platforms are based on Altera StratixIIGX and Xilinx Virtex5. We will start by describing the GBT protocol implementation in detail. We will then focus on practical solutions to make Stratix and Virtex transceivers match the custom encoding scheme chosen for the GBT. Results will be presented on single channel occupancy, resource optimization when using several channels in a chip and bit error rate measurements, with the only aim to demonstrate the ability of both Altera and Xilinx FPGAs to host such a protocol with excellent performances. Finally, information will be given on how to use the available source code and how to integrate GBT functionality into custom FPGA applications. I. GBT PROTOCOL PRESENTATION

The Versatile Transceiver: towards production readiness

Detectors involved in the upgrade programme of the LHC will need high-speed optical links to transfer readout and control data. The link front-end will be based on a radiation tolerant opto-electronic module, the Versatile Transceiver (VTRx), developed under the Versatile Link project. In this contribution we present a test system and protocol to be used to verify the compliance of the VTRx modules to the specifications, and a Versatile Link demonstrator based on the VTRx and the Gigabit Link Interface Board. Finally, we introduce the Small Footprint VTRx which is being designed for the CMS Tracker upgrade.

The GBLD: a radiation tolerant laser driver for high energy physics applications

The GigaBit Laser Driver (GBLD) is a radiation tolerant ASIC which is part of the GigaBit Transceiver (GBT) chipset. It is aimed to drive both edge emitting and VCSEL laser diodes at a data rate in excess of 5 Gb/s. The GBLD can provide a modulation current up to 24 mA and a bias current up to 43 mA. Pre- and de-emphasis functions are implemented to compensate for high external capacitive loads and asymmetric laser response. The chip is designed in a 130 nm CMOS technology and is powered by a single 2.5 V supply.

The ALICE data quality monitoring

ALICE is one of the four experiments installed at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), especially designed for the study of heavy-ion collisions. The online Data Quality Monitoring (DQM) is an important part of the data acquisition (DAQ) software. It involves the online gathering, the analysis by user-defined algorithms and the visualization of monitored data. This paper presents the final design, as well as the latest and coming features, of the ALICEs specific DQM software called AMORE (Automatic MonitoRing Environment). It describes the challenges we faced during its implementation, including the performances issues, and how we tested and handled them, in particular by using a scalable and robust publish-subscribe architecture.We also review the on-going and increasing adoption of this tool amongst the ALICE collaboration and the measures taken to develop, in synergy with their respective teams, efficient monitoring modules for the sub-detectors. The related packaging and release procedure needed by such a distributed framework is also described. We finally overview the wide range of usages people make of this framework, and we review our own experience, before and during the LHC start-up, when monitoring the data quality on both the sub-detectors and the DAQ side in a real-world and challenging environment.

Single-Event Upsets in Photoreceivers for Multi-Gb/s SLHC Data Transmission

A 63 MeV proton beam was used to perform a single event upset (SEU) test on a candidate component for a future high luminosity large hadron collider (HL-LHC) high speed optical. An in-lab error injector was used to show that 1-0 bit errors are caused by the amplifiers response to the large signal caused by a single event transient (SET) in the photodiode.

Online processing in the ALICE DAQ The detector algorithms

ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) is the heavy-ion detector designed to study the physics of strongly interacting matter and the quark-gluon plasma at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Some specific calibration tasks are performed regularly for each of the 18 ALICE sub-detectors in order to achieve most accurate physics measurements. These procedures involve events analysis in a wide range of experimental conditions, implicating various trigger types, data throughputs, electronics settings, and algorithms, both during short sub-detector standalone runs and long global physics runs. A framework was designed to collect statistics and compute some of the calibration parameters directly online, using resources of the Data Acquisition System (DAQ), and benefiting from its inherent parallel architecture to process events. This system has been used at the experimental area for one year, and includes more than 30 calibration routines in production. This paper describes the framework architecture and the synchronization mechanisms involved at the level of the Experiment Control System (ECS) of ALICE. The software libraries interfacing detector algorithms (DA) to the online data flow, configuration database, experiment logbook, and offline system are reviewed. The test protocols followed to integrate and validate each sub-detector component are also discussed, including the automatic build system and validation procedures used to ensure a smooth deployment. The offline post-processing and archiving of the DA results is covered in a separate paper.

Modal Dispersion Mitigation in Standard Single-Mode Fibers at 850 nm With Fiber Mode Filters

We investigate the possibility of using a fiber which supports only the fundamental LP01 mode at 850 nm as a mode filter to overcome modal dispersion in standard single-mode fiber links that employ either multitransverse or single-transverse-mode vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers. The individual power penalties due to modal noise and modal crosstalk effects in the link are investigated.

DDL, the ALICE data transmission protocol and its evolution from 2 to 6 Gb/s

ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) is the detector system at the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) that studies the behaviour of strongly interacting matter and the quark gluon plasma. The information sent by the sub-detectors composing ALICE are read out by DATE (Data Acquisition and Test Environment), the ALICE data acquisition software, using hundreds of multi-mode optical links called DDL (Detector Data Link). To cope with the higher luminosity of the LHC, the bandwidth of the DDL links will be upgraded in 2015. This paper will describe the evolution of the DDL protocol from 2 to 6 Gbit/s.

Modeling TID Effects in Mach-Zehnder Interferometer Silicon Modulator for HL-LHC Data Transmission Applications

High-speed Mach-Zehnder interferometer silicon modulators were exposed to a total ionizing dose of 1.3 MGy, levels comparable to the worst radiation levels for a tracking detector after 10 years of operation at the High-Luminosity LHC, show a sensitivity to ionizing radiation after exposure to a dose of a few hundred kGy. A physical model to describe the effect of ionizing radiation on the modulators has been developed and is used to predict whether a more radiation-hard modulator can be designed to survive the harshest radiation environments expected at the HL-LHC.