Z. Vykydal

FITPix — fast interface for Timepix pixel detectors

The semiconductor pixel detector Timepix contains an array of 256 × 256 square pixels with pitch 55 μm. In addition to high spatial granularity the single quantum counting detector Timepix can provide also energy or time information in each pixel. This device is a powerful tool for radiation and particle detection, imaging and tracking. A new readout interface for silicon pixel detectors of the Medipix family has been developed in our group in order to provide a higher frame rate and enhanced flexibility of operation. The interface consists of a field programmable gate array, a USB 2.0 interface chip, DAC, ADC and a circuit which generates bias voltage for the sensor. The main control system is placed in the FPGA circuit which fully controls the Timepix device. This approach offers an easy way how to include new functionality and extended operation. The interface for Timepix supports all operation modes of the detector (counting, TOT, timing). The FITPix is a successor of the USB 1.22 Interface and the electronic readout is built with the latest available components, which allows achieving up to 90 frames per second with a single detector. The frame rate is about 20 times faster compared to the previous system while it maintains all same capabilities supported. In addition FITPix newly enables an adjustable clock frequency and hardware triggering which is a useful tool when there is the need for synchronized operation of multiple devices. Three modes of hardware trigger have been implemented: hardware trigger which starts the measurement, hardware trigger which terminates the measurement and hardware trigger which controls measurement fully. The entire system is fully powered through the USB bus. FITPix supports also readout from several detectors in chain in which case just an external power source is required. FITPix is a fully flexible device and the user needs no other equipment. FITPix combines high performance and mobility and it opens new fields of applications. The current version of the FITPix interface has dimension 45 mm × 60 mm.

Pixelman: a multi-platform data acquisition and processing software package for Medipix2, Timepix and Medipix3 detectors

The semiconductor pixel detectors Medipix2, Timepix and Medipix3 (256x256 square pixels, 55x55 μm each) are superior imaging devices in terms of spatial resolution, linearity and dynamic range. This makes them suitable for various applications such as radiography, neutronography, micro-tomography and X-ray dynamic defectoscopy. In order to control and manage such complex measurements a multi-platform software package for acquisition and data processing with a Java graphical user interface has been developed. The functionality of the original version of Pixelman package has been upgraded and extended to include the new medipix devices. The software package can be run on Microsoft Windows, Linux and Mac OS X operating systems. The architecture is very flexible and the functionality can be extended by plugins in C++, Java or combinations of both. The software package may be used as a distributed acquisition system using computers with different operating systems over a local network or the Internet.

Directional radiation detector

Many applications likehomeland security, radiation protection, control of fissile material proliferation and other require not only detection of radioactive materials, but also their localization. We are presenting a directional detector based on an array of semiconductor detectors capable to determine direction where the radioactive source is placed. Semiconductor single pad detectors are arranged into rows and separated by a shielding material. Selection of the detectors and shielding material depends on the type and energy of the radiation desired to monitor (i.e. X-rays, gammas or neutrons). Level of the signal, i.e. count rate, in each detector depends on the angle of the incoming radiation. Analysis of the count rate in each detector allows calculating angular position of the source. A series of simulations and evaluating measurements of the directional radiation detection principle is presented.

The Physics Programme Of The MoEDAL Experiment At The LHC

The MoEDAL experiment at Point 8 of the LHC ring is the seventh and newest LHC experiment. It is dedicated to the search for highly-ionizing particle avatars of physics beyond the Standard Model, extending significantly the discovery horizon of the LHC. A MoEDAL discovery would have revolutionary implications for our fundamental understanding of the Microcosm. MoEDAL is an unconventional and largely passive LHC detector comprised of the largest array of Nuclear Track Detector stacks ever deployed at an accelerator, surrounding the intersection region at Point 8 on the LHC ring. Another novel feature is the use of paramagnetic trapping volumes to capture both electrically and magnetically charged highly-ionizing particles predicted in new physics scenarios. It includes an array of TimePix pixel devices for monitoring highly-ionizing particle backgrounds. The main passive elements of the MoEDAL detector do not require a trigger system, electronic readout, or online computerized data acquisition. The aim of this paper is to give an overview of the MoEDAL physics reach, which is largely complementary to the programs of the large multipurpose LHC detectors ATLAS and CMS.

3D sensitive voxel detector of ionizing radiation based on Timepix device

Position sensitive detectors are evolving towards higher segmentation geometries from 0D (single pad) over 1D (strip) to 2D (pixel) detectors. Each step has brought up substantial expansion in the field of applications. The next logical step in this evolution is to design a 3D, i.e. voxel detector. The voxel detector can be constructed from 2D volume element detectors arranged in layers forming a 3D matrix of sensitive elements — voxels. Such detectors can effectively record tracks of energetic particles. By proper analysis of these tracks it is possible to determine the type, direction and energy of the primary particle. One of the prominent applications of such device is in the localization and identification of gamma and neutron sources in the environment. It can be also used for emission and transmission radiography in many fields where standard imagers are currently utilized. The qualitative properties of current imagers such as: spatial resolution, efficiency, directional sensitivity, energy sensitivity and selectivity (background suppression) can be improved. The first prototype of a voxel detector was built using a number of Timepix devices. Timepix is hybrid semiconductor detector consisting of a segmented semiconductor sensor bump-bonded to a readout chip. Each sensor contains 256x256 square pixels of 55 μm size. The voxel detector prototype was successfully tested to prove the concept functionality. The detector has a modular architecture with a daisy chain connection of the individual detector layers. This permits easy rearrangement due to its modularity, while keeping a single readout system for a variable number of detector layers. A limitation of this approach is the relatively large inter-layer distance (4 mm) compared to the pixel thickness (0.3 mm). Therefore the next step in the design is to decrease the space between the 2D detectors.

Search for magnetic monopoles with the MoEDAL prototype trapping detector in 8 TeV proton-proton collisions at the LHC

A bstractThe MoEDAL experiment is designed to search for magnetic monopoles and other highly-ionising particles produced in high-energy collisions at the LHC. The largely passive MoEDAL detector, deployed at Interaction Point 8 on the LHC ring, relies on two dedicated direct detection techniques. The first technique is based on stacks of nucleartrack detectors with surface area ~18m2, sensitive to particle ionisation exceeding a high threshold. These detectors are analysed offline by optical scanning microscopes. The second technique is based on the trapping of charged particles in an array of roughly 800 kg of aluminium samples. These samples are monitored offline for the presence of trapped magnetic charge at a remote superconducting magnetometer facility. We present here the results of a search for magnetic monopoles using a 160 kg prototype MoEDAL trapping detector exposed to 8TeV proton-proton collisions at the LHC, for an integrated luminosity of 0.75 fb–1. No magnetic charge exceeding 0:5gD (where gD is the Dirac magnetic charge) is measured in any of the exposed samples, allowing limits to be placed on monopole production in the mass range 100 GeV≤ m ≤ 3500 GeV. Model-independent cross-section limits are presented in fiducial regions of monopole energy and direction for 1gD ≤ |g| ≤ 6gD, and model-dependent cross-section limits are obtained for Drell-Yan pair production of spin-1/2 and spin-0 monopoles for 1gD ≤ |g| ≤ 4gD. Under the assumption of Drell-Yan cross sections, mass limits are derived for |g| = 2gD and |g| = 3gD for the first time at the LHC, surpassing the results from previous collider experiments.

Charge collection from proton and alpha particle tracks in silicon pixel detector devices

The lateral spread of charge carriers under the influence of the electric field in a pixellated silicon detector hit by a heavy charged particle, such as a proton or an alpha-particle, causes a sharing of the charge between the electrodes and many pixels have a signal. The results of the charge sharing effect measured in the Medipix2 and Timepix pixel detectors of 300 mum thicknesses is shown as a function of particle energy and applied bias voltage. A model describing the effects of funneling, plasma and diffusion on the charge collection and its sharing will be also presented. Using Timepix, it is possible to measure directly the quantity of charge deposited in each pixel within the cluster and to follow changes in charge collection as a function of collection time. This allows 3D-visualization of individual tracks of charged particles in silicon with Timepix.

ATLAS-TPX: a two-layer pixel detector setup for neutron detection and radiation field characterization

A two-layer pixel detector setup (ATLAS-TPX), designed for thermal and fast neutron detection and radiation field characterization is presented. It consists of two segmented silicon detectors (256 × 256 pixels, pixel pitch 55 μm, thicknesses 300 μm and 500 μm) facing each other. To enhance the neutron detection efficiency a set of converter layers is inserted in between these detectors. The pixelation and the two-layer design allow a discrimination of neutrons against γs by pattern recognition and against charged particles by using the coincidence and anticoincidence information. The neutron conversion and detection efficiencies are measured in a thermal neutron field and fast neutron fields with energies up to 600 MeV. A Geant4 simulation model is presented, which is validated against the measured detector responses. The reliability of the coincidence and anticoincidence technique is demonstrated and possible applications of the detector setup are briefly outlined.

Time-of-flight measurement of fast neutrons with Timepix detectors

Timepix pixel detectors have been used to study the response of silicon hybrid pixel detectors to fast neutrons from a pulsed neutron beam at WNR FP30R, a 14 m long flight path, in the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center. Neutrons with kinetic energies up to 600 MeV were available. In order to enhance the conversion of neutrons to energetic charged particles, several converter foils and filters were attached to the 300 μm thick silicon sensor, i.e. polyethylene, polyethylene with aluminum, 6LiF, 6LiF with aluminum, aluminum. The Time-of-Arrival mode of the Timepix detectors has permitted the application of the Time-of-Flight (TOF) technique for the assignment of the detected interactions in the form of clusters (groups of adjacent pixels) in the pixel matrix, to the kinetic energies of the incident neutrons. It was found that, for lower neutron energies ( ~ MeV range) the cluster rates below the polyethylene and the polyethylene and aluminum region, produced by recoil protons, are a good measure for the mean kinetic energies of neutrons. For energies above 50 MeV nuclear reactions in the silicon dominate the detector response. In this energy range the shape of the clusters indicates the neutron kinetic energy.

Evaluation of the ATLAS-MPX devices for neutron field spectral composition measurement in the ATLAS experiment

A network of 15 Medipix2-based devices (ATLAS-MPX devices) has been installed at various positions in the ATLAS detector within the framework of the ATLAS-MPX collaboration. The aim of the network is to perform real-time measurement of spectral characteristics and composition of the main radiation types in the experiment including slow and fast neutrons, especially during the initial low luminosity LHC operation. This contribution describes the network structure and focuses on the neutron efficiency calibration process of the ATLAS-MPX devices and its simulation in order to predict the behavior of the device in complex neutron fields.