The upgrade of the ALICE TPC - From triggered to fully continuous operation

by Torsten Alt (Goethe University Frankfurt (DE))

Tuesday 18 May 2021, 09:00 → 10:00 Europe/Zurich

Zoom details are in the invitation email.

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Abstract:

The Time-Projection-Chamber (TPC) is the main tracking and particle identification (PID) device in the central barrel of ALICE. In order to make full use of the increased Pb-Pb luminosity for Run3 and beyond, the TPC needs to be able to cope with a minimum-bias interaction rate of up to 50 kHz. During Run1 and Run2, the operation of the MWPC-based TPC was limited to 3 kHz due to an active ion gating grid. To overcome this limitation, the front-end and readout electronics have been completely re-designed. The MWPC-based chambers have been replaced by GEM-based chambers, allowing for fully continuous readout. The signals from the 524160 channels are amplified, shaped, and digitized with 5 MHz by 16380 SAMPA chips. The raw ADC data is then sent out directly via 6552 optical links using the CERN GBTx and Versatile link system, resulting in a raw data rate of more than 26 Tb/s. All data processing is done off-detector by 360 FPGA-based readout cards (Common Readout Unit, CRU).

This seminar will present the design and performance of the Front-End-Electronics, the special requirements for the TPC readout system and the FPGA processing, and the challenges and difficulties that were overcome to bring the system from a concept to a fully operational system.

EP-ESE_Seminar_ALICE_TPC.pdf

track_movie_slow_1TF.mp4

xray_movie.mp4