Hans-Christian Schultz-Coulon

Characterisation studies of silicon photomultipliers

This paper describes an experimental setup that has been developed to measure and characterise properties of silicon photomultipliers (SiPM). The measured SiPM properties are of general interest for a multitude of potential applications and comprise the photon detection efficiency (PDE), the voltage dependent cross-talk and the after-pulse probabilities. With the described setup the absolute PDE can be determined as a function of wavelength covering a spectral range from 350 to 1000 nm. In addition, a method is presented which allows to study the pixel uniformity in terms of the spatial variations of sensitivity and gain. The results from various commercially available SiPMs—three HAMAMATSU MPPCs and one SensL SPM—are presented and compared.

Time based readout of a silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) for time of flight positron emission tomography (TOF-PET)

Time of flight (TOF) measurements in positron emission tomography (PET) are very challenging in terms of timing performance, and should achieve ideally less than 100ps FWHM precision. We present a time-based differential technique to read out SiPMs that has less than 25ps rms electronic jitter. The novel readout is a fast front end circuit (NINO) based on a first stage differential current mode amplifier with 20Ω input resistance. Therefore the amplifier inputs are connected differentially to the SiPMs anode and cathode ports. The leading edge of the output signal provides the time information, while the trailing edge provides the energy information. Based on a Monte Carlo photon-generation model, SPICE simulations were run with a 3×3mm2 SiPM-model, read out with a differential current amplifier. The results of these simulations are presented here and compared with experimental data obtained with a 3×3×15mm3 LSO crystal coupled to a SiPM. The measured time coincidence precision is interpreted by the combined Monte Carlo/SPICE simulation, as well as by Poisson statistics.

The ATLAS Level-1 Calorimeter Trigger

The ATLAS Level-1 Calorimeter Trigger uses reduced-granularity information from all the ATLAS calorimeters to search for high transverse-energy electrons, photons, τ leptons and jets, as well as high missing and total transverse energy. The calorimeter trigger electronics has a fixed latency of about 1 μs, using programmable custom-built digital electronics. This paper describes the Calorimeter Trigger hardware, as installed in the ATLAS electronics cavern.

EndoTOFPET-US: a novel multimodal tool for endoscopy and positron emission tomography

The EndoTOFPET-US project aims to develop a multimodal detector to foster the development of new biomarkers for prostate and pancreatic tumors. The detector will consist of two main components: an external plate, and a PET extension to an endoscopic ultrasound probe. The external plate is an array of LYSO crystals read out by silicon photomultipliers (SiPM) coupled to an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). The internal probe will be an highly integrated and miniaturized detector made of LYSO crystals read out by a fully digital SiPM featuring photosensor elements and digital readout in the same chip. The position and orientation of the two detectors will be tracked with respect to the patient to allow the fusion of the metabolic image from the PET and the anatomic image from the ultrasound probe in the time frame of the medical procedure. The fused information can guide further interventions of the organ, such as biopsy or in vivo confocal microscopy.

Design and construction of the SAPHIR detector

Abstract The design, construction, and performance of the large solid angle magnetic spectrometer SAPHIR is described. It was built for the investigation of photon-induced reactions on nucleons and light nuclei with multi-particle final states up to photon energies of 3.1 GeV. The detector is equipped with a tagged photon beam facility and is operated at the stretcher ring ELSA in Bonn.

A fast high resolution track trigger for the H1 experiment

After 2001 the upgraded ep collider HERA will provide an about five times higher luminosity for the two experiments H1 and ZEUS. In order to cope with the expected higher event rates the H1 collaboration is building a track based trigger system, the Fast Track Trigger (FTT). It will be integrated in the first three levels (L1–L3) of the H1 trigger scheme to provide higher selectivity for events with charged particles. The FTT will allow to reconstruct 3-dimensional tracks in the central drift chamber down to 100 MeV/c within the L2 latency of ∼23 μs. To reach the necessary momentum resolution of ∼5% (at 1 GeV/c) sophisticated reconstruction algorithms have to be implemented using high density Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) and their embedded Content Addressable Memories (CAM). The final track parameter optimization will be done using non-iterative fits implemented in DSPs. While at the first trigger level rough track information will be provided, at L2 tracks with high resolution are available to form trigger decisions on topological and other track based criteria like multiplicities and momenta. At the third trigger level a farm of commercial processor boards will be used to compute physics quantities such as invariant masses. Keywords— Trigger, Fast Track Trigger, Track Trigger, FPGA, Content Addressable Memory, CAM, DSP, H1 Collaboration, HERA ColliderAfter 2001, the upgraded ep collider HERA will provide an about five times higher luminosity for the two experiments H1 and ZEUS. To cope with the expected higher event rates, the H1 collaboration is building a track-based trigger system, the Fast Track Trigger (FTT). It will be integrated in the first three levels (L1-L3) of the H1 trigger scheme to provide higher selectivity for events with charged particles. The FTT will allow reconstruction of three-dimensional tracks in the central drift chamber down to 100 MeV/c within the L2 latency of /spl sim/23 /spl mu/s. To reach the necessary momentum resolution of /spl sim/5% (at 1 GeV/c), sophisticated reconstruction algorithms have to be implemented using high-density field-programmable gate arrays and their embedded content addressable memories. The final track parameter optimization will be done using noniterative fits implemented in digital signal processors. While at the first trigger level rough track information will be provided, at L2 tracks with high resolution are available to form trigger decisions on topological and other track-based criteria like multiplicities and momenta. At the third trigger level, a farm of commercial processor boards will be used to compute physics quantities such as invariant masses.

Measurement of γp→K + Λ and γp→K + Σ 0 at photon energies up to 1.47 GeV

The reactions γp→K+ Λ and γp→K+ Σ0 have been measured with the multiparticle detector system SAPHIR at ELSA in Bonn. Besides the differential cross sections the Λ polarization and, for the first time, the Σ0 polarization have been determined in a photon induced reaction. All data are presented as functions of the photon energy (from threshold up to 1.47 GeV) and of the kaon production angle (0°–180°). The polarization of both Λ and Σ0 is substantial at all energies and varies strongly with the production angle.

Combining Triggers in HEP data analysis

Modern high-energy physics experiments collect data using dedicated complex multi-level trigger systems which perform an online selection of potentially interesting events. In general, this selection suffers from inefficiencies. A further loss of statistics occurs when the rate of accepted events is artificially scaled down in order to meet bandwidth constraints. An offline analysis of the recorded data must correct for the resulting losses in order to determine the original statistics of the analysed data sample. This is particularly challenging when data samples recorded by several triggers are combined. In this paper, we present methods for the calculation of the offline corrections and study their statistical performance. Implications on building and operating trigger systems are discussed.

Study of the response and photon-counting resolution of silicon photomultipliers using a generic simulation framework

We present a generic framework for the simulation of Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) which enables detailed modelling of the SiPM response using basic SiPM parameters and geometry as an input. Depending on the specified SiPM properties which can be determined from basic characterisation measurements, the simulation generates the signal charge and pulse shape for arbitrary incident light pulse distributions. The simulation has been validated in the whole dynamic range for a Hamamatsu S10362-11-100C MPPC and was used to study the effect of different noise sources like optical cross-talk and after-pulsing on the response curve and the photon-counting resolution.

STiC ? a mixed mode silicon photomultiplier readout ASIC for time-of-flight applications

STiC is an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) for the readout of silicon photomultipliers. The chip has been designed to provide a very high timing resolution for time-of-flight applications in medical imaging and particle physics. It is dedicated in particular to the EndoToFPET-US project, which is developing an endoscopic PET detector combined with ultrasound imaging for early pancreas and prostate cancer detection. This PET system aims to provide a spatial resolution of 1 mm and a time-of-flight resolution of 200 ps FWHM. The analog frontend of STiC can use either a differential or single ended connection to the SiPM. The time and energy information of the detector signal is encoded into two time stamps. A special linearized time-over-threshold method is used to obtain a linear relation between the signal charge and the measured signal width, improving the energy resolution. The trigger signals are digitized by an integrated TDC module with a resolution of less than 20 ps. The TDC data is stored in an internal memory and transfered over a 160 MBit/s serial link using 8/10 bit encoding. First coincidence measurements using a 3.1 × 3.1 × 15 mm3 LYSO crystal and a S10362-33-50 Hamamtsu MPPC show a coincidence time resolution of less than 285 ps. We present details on the chip design as well as first characterization measurements.