L. Schmitt

The DAQ of the COMPASS experiment

COMPASS is a fixed target experiment at CERNs SPS. In 2002, a first physics run was completed with 260 TB of data recorded, corresponding to 5 billion events. The data acquisition architecture is based on custom frontends, buffers based on PCI cards, and server PCs networked via Gigabit Ethernet. A custom timing and trigger distribution system provides unique event identification and time synchronization. Results on the performance of the system and an outlook to improvements using online filtering will be given.

A sampling ADC data acquisition system for positron emission tomography

A data acquisition system for a positron emission tomograph (PET) based on avalanche photodiode (APD) readout of lutetium oxyorthosilicate (LSO) scintillator crystals is presented. The analog data of each APD are read out by fast analog to digital converters (ADCs) and processed within field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). The ADCs are continuously sampling with an 80 MHz, low jitter clock, which is synchronous for the whole detector. The main tasks of the FPGAs are pulse detection and extraction of signal timing information from the digitized data stream. The detected signal pulse data are therefore compared to a predefined set of pulse shapes with known phase shifts with respect to the sample clock. By searching for the best match within this calibration set, a precise start time information for the signal pulse can be determined. The calculated time values are then transmitted from the ADC cards via fiber optic links to multiplexer modules which combine the different data streams and can also perform further processing like search for coincident events. Finally, the preprocessed detector data are transmitted from the multiplexers to PCI cards in the image reconstruction computers by gigabit optical links.

FPGA - Based Compute Nodes for the PANDA Experiment at FAIR

PANDA is a new universal detector for antiproton physics at the HESR facility at FAIR/GSI. The PANDA data acquisition system has to handle interaction rates of the order of 10**7 /s and data rates of several 100 Gb Is. FPGA based compute nodes with multi-Gbit/s bandwidth capability using the ATCA architecture are designed to handle tasks such as event building, feature extraction and high level trigger processing. Each board is equipped with 5 Virtex4 FX60 FPGAs. High bandwidth connectivity is provided by four Gbit Ethernet links and 8 additional optical links connected to RocketIO ports. A single ATCA crate can host up to 14 boards which are interconnected via a full mesh backplane.

Present status of silicon detectors in Compass

Abstract In 2002 the C ompass experiment at C ern has started to take first physics data. The fixed target experiment at the SPS uses muon and hadron beams of very high intensity to investigate the structure of the nucleon. For beam definition and small angle tracking silicon microstrip detectors are used. This article describes the requirements which are set by the physics program of C ompass for these detectors and the ways they were met, amongst which the operation at a temperature around 130 K (Lazarus effect) is the most prominent. Measurements at low temperatures as well as first results from the operation at room temperature in the C ompass physics run 2002 are presented.

Optimization of electric field distribution by free carrier injection in silicon detectors operated at low temperatures

We present a study of the modeling of the electric field distribution, which is controlled by injection and trapping of nonequilibrium carriers, in Si detectors irradiated by high neutron fluences. An analytical calculation of the electric field distribution in detectors irradiated by neutrons up to fluences of 1 /spl middot/ 10/sup 14/ to 5 /spl middot/ 10/sup 15/ cm/sup -2/ shows the possibility of reducing the full depletion voltage at low temperatures via hole injection. For this calculation, we use the detector operating parameters and equivalent neutron fluences expected for Large Hadron Collider experiments. The results of the calculation are in good qualitative agreement with published experimental data, lending strong support for the model and for an earlier proposal of electric field manipulation by free carrier injection.

Tests and developments of the PANDA Endcap Disc DIRC

The PANDA experiment at the future Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) requires excellent particle identification. Two different DIRC detectors will utilize internally reflected Cherenkov light of charged particles to enable the separation of pions and kaons up to momenta of 4 GeV/c. The Endcap Disc DIRC will be placed in the forward endcap of PANDAs central spectrometer covering polar angles between 5° and 22°. Its final design is based on MCP-PMTs for the photon detection and an optical system made of fused silica. A new prototype has been investigated during a test beam at CERN in May 2015 and first results will be presented. In addition a new synthetic fused silica material by Nikon has been tested and was found to be radiation hard.

The Barrel DIRC of PANDA

Cooled antiproton beams of unprecedented intensities in the momentum range of 1.5-15 GeV/c will be used for the PANDA experiment at FAIR to perform high precision experiments in the charmed quark sector. The PANDA detector will investigate antiproton annihilations with beams in the momentum range of 1.5 GeV/c to 15 GeV/c on a fixed target. An almost 4π acceptance double spectrometer is divided in a forward spectrometer and a target spectrometer. The charged particle identification in the latter is performed by ring imaging Cherenkov counters employing the DIRC principle.

Cryogenic operation of silicon detectors

This paper reports on measurements at cryogenic temperatures of a silicon microstrip detector irradiated with 24 GeV protons to a #uence of 3.5]1014 p/cm2 and of a p}n junction diode detector irradiated to a similar #uence. At temperatures below 130 K a recovery of charge collection e

Status of the PANDA barrel DIRC

ciency and resolution is observed. Under reverse bias conditions this recovery degrades in time towards some saturated value. The recovery is interpreted qualitatively as

Resolution changes of MCP-PMTs in magnetic fields

The PANDA experiment at the future Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research in Europe GmbH (FAIR) at GSI, Darmstadt will study fundamental questions of hadron physics and QCD using high-intensity cooled antiproton beams with momenta between 1.5 and 15 GeV/c. Hadronic PID in the barrel region of the PANDA detector will be provided by a DIRC (Detection of Internally Reflected Cherenkov light) counter. The design is based on the successful BABAR DIRC with several key improvements, such as fast photon timing and a compact imaging region. Detailed Monte Carlo simulation studies were performed for DIRC designs based on narrow bars or wide plates with a variety of focusing solutions. The performance of each design was characterized in terms of photon yield and single photon Cherenkov angle resolution and a maximum likelihood approach was used to determine the π/K separation. Selected design options were implemented in prototypes and tested with hadronic particle beams at GSI and CERN. This article describes the status of the design and R&D for the PANDA Barrel DIRC detector, with a focus on the performance of different DIRC designs in simulation and particle beams.