Simulation studies have shown that future RICH detectors in high occupancy environments will benefit from time-resolved single-photon readout with sub-nanosecond resolution. We present an FPGA TDC (Time to Digital Converter) implementation developed as part of the LHCb RICH upgrade R&D program. The design requirements for a such TDC core are low logic resource utilization, multi-channel...
The Belle II experiment at the SuperKEKB asymmetric e+e- collider in High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK, Tsukuba, Japan) is searching for CP asymmetries in different rare decays, as well as a new physics beyond the standard model, and aims to collect a high statistics data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 50 $ab^{-1}$ in order to search. The Belle II Aerogel...
HELIX (High Energy Light Isotope eXperiment) is a balloon-borne instrument designed to measure the chemical and isotopic abundances of light cosmic-ray nuclei. In particular, HELIX is optimized to measure $^{10}$Be and $^9$Be in the range 0.2 GeV/n to beyond 3 GeV/n. To measure the energy of nuclei beyond about 1 GeV/n, HELIX utilizes a ring-imaging Cherenkov (RICH) detector. The RICH detector...
Silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) specifically designed with a high photon detection efficiency (PDE) at the UV end of the visible spectrum are now competing with traditional photomultiplier tubes (PMTs). Typical applications where UV sensitive photosensors play a key role include Cherenkov and scintillation light detection in particle, astroparticle, nuclear physics, and medical physics.
PMTs...
The FERS-5200 is the new CAEN Front-End Readout System, answering the challenging requirement to provide flexibility and cost-effectiveness in the readout of huge detector arrays. FERS-5200 is a distributed and easy-deployable platform integrating the whole readout chain of the experiment, from detector front-end to DAQ. It is based on compact ASIC-based front-end cards integrating A/D...
The arrival of the Cherenkov photons to the photon detectors of the LHCb RICH system from a particular track can be predicted to within 10 picoseconds. This property can be used to improve pattern recognition and particle identification performance when high detector occupancy results from multiple primary vertices, which are slightly displaced in time. Time-stamping the Cherenkov photons with...
The Latin American Giant Observatory (LAGO) consists of a network of water Cherenkov detectors (WCDs) installed in the Latin American region at various latitudes, from Sierra Negra in México, 18° 59′ N 97° 18’ W to the Antarctic Peninsula, 64° 14′ S 56° 38′ W and altitudes from Lima, Peru at 20 m.a.s.l. to Chacaltaya, Bolivia at 5500 m.a.s.l. The detectors of the network are built on the basis...
Significant progress has been made in the last years in the field of volcanic muography. This technique takes advantage of the large penetrating power of atmospheric muons and allows us to infer information about the internal structure of volcanoes observing the differential absorption of muons passing through the target.
This, in conjunction with other monitoring techniques, can help...
Searches for New Physics effects at the intensity frontier are based on very precise measurements of observables involving rare processes within the Standard Model. Semileptonic decays of $B$ meson are particularly interesting due to persistent hints of Lepton Flavour Universality (LFU) violation seen in $b\to c\tau\nu_\tau$ transitions with a massive $\tau$ lepton in the final state. Compared...
The determination of neutrino mass ordering (NMO) is one of the prime goals of several neutrino experiments. KM3NeT/ORCA and JUNO are two next-generation neutrino oscillation experiments both aiming at addressing this question. ORCA can determine the NMO by probing Earth matter effects on the oscillation of atmospheric neutrinos in the GeV energy range. JUNO, on the other hand, is sensitive to...
Optical systems for RICH detectors have historically taken a variety of designs. Nowadays, technological developments allow more flexibility in the design and construction than allowed in the past, such as lightweight secondary mirrors to be placed in acceptance, widespread use of non-spherical optical surfaces, flexible and fast tools for parametric optimization of the optical systems before...
The Latin American Giant Observatory (LAGO) is a ground based observatory studying solar or high energy astrophysics transient events. LAGO takes advantage of its distributed network of Water Cherenkov Detectors (WCDs) in Latin America as a tool to measure the secondary particle flux reaching the ground. These secondary particles are produced during the interaction of the modulated cosmic rays...
Various ring imaging Cherenkov sub-systems are being proposed in EIC detector for hadron identification with momenta up to 50 GeV/c. It is critical to have a reliable highly pixelated readout sensor working in the high magnetic field environment. Optimization of the photosensor design for high magnetic field tolerance, precision timing resolution, and pixelated readout was performed at Argonne...
Qualification of DIRICH readout chain
for the CBM RICH- and TRB collaborations.
DIRICH is a multi-channel FPGA based TDC readout chain aiming for excellent timing precision in single photo-electron measurement applications. It was originally developed for the readout of Multianode Photomultipliers (MAPMT) in the HADES- and CBM RICH detectors at GSI/FAIR, but is also foreseen to be...
During the Long Shutdown 2 of the LHC, the LHCb RICH system has undergone an upgrade to implement the LHCb trigger strategy which increased the read-out rate from 1 MHz to 40 MHz.
The new challenging operating conditions of the upgraded experiment impose the replacement of the Hybrid Photon Detectors (HPD) with Multi-Anode Photomultiplier tubes (MaPMT) and the introduction of customised...
Microchannel Plates (MCPs) are used in many applications, including in Cherenkov and scintillation detectors. There are several characteristics that need to be considered when designing MCPs for such applications. The time resolution and gain are two important characteristics that affect the ability to measure a pulse and the time between interactions that can be measured.
MCPs have many...
Since 2018 an aerogel proximity focusing Ring Imaging Detector (ARICH) efficiently separates hadrons in the forward endcap of the Belle II spectrometer. Cherenkov photons emitted in the double layer aerogel radiator are expanded in the 16 cm space and detected on the photon detector comprising 420 Hybrid avalanche photodiodes and backside readout electronics working in a threshold mode. Each...
The Belle II barrel region is instrumented with the Time of Propagation (TOP) particle identification system comprising sixteen quartz radiator bars arranged around the interaction point. These quartz bars do not overlap, leaving a gap of around 2cm in the azimuthal direction between them and causing a 6% drop in acceptance. An additional 3% of tracks suffer from degraded identification...
Hadron identification in LHCb after the high luminosity LHC upgrade (Run 5) will be extremely challenging. A number of different technologies are under study, including the use of aerogel as a Cherenkov radiator. Novel pinhole drying hydrophobic aerogel radiators have improved transparency compared to the tiles used in the Belle II ARICH. In the framework of the LHCb RICH Upgrade we are...
Cherenkov light is used in a wide variety of neutrino detectors for observing the secondary charged particles produced after neutrino interactions. The SNO+ experiment has reported a discrepancy between data and Monte-Carlo in the isotropy of the Cherenkov light emitted by electrons with energies of a few MeV. SNO+ relies on Geant4, a widely used simulation package, to approximate the...
Imaging air Cherenkov telescopes (IACT), non-imaging optical detectors (HiSCORE), and scintillation detector array are the three detector systems of the TAIGA experiment at Tunka Valley. The scintillation detectors register the secondary charged particles produced by the extended air showers (EASs). In both IACT and HiSCORE systems, Cherenkov photons from the EASs are registered. Studying the...
The ASTRI Mini-Array is an INAF project to build and operate a facility to study astronomical sources emitting very high energy in the TeV spectral band. It consists of a group of nine innovative aplanatic dual mirror Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes of 4 m diameter. The telescopes will be installed at the Teide Astronomical Observatory of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias in...
Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) are of the brightest transients detected, with typical energies in their prompt phase ranging from keV to GeV. Theoretical models predict emissions at higher energies in the early times of the afterglow emission, and recently GRB190114C was the first GRB detected at TeV energies by the MAGIC experiment.
The Latin American Giant Observatory (LAGO) operates a network of...
The Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) is the new large-scale particle accelerator planned in the US and designed to collide polarized electrons with polarized protons and nuclei and investigate the dynamics of quarks and gluons, unlocking the secrets of QCD. The capability to distinguish charged particles over the full momentum range, while working in a strong (about 1T) magnetic field, is required...
TRICK is a INFN CSNV Young Grant project that will investigate an innovative 5D technique for providing 3D information about the position, time, and ID of incoming particles. The core idea is based on the well-known technology of conventional Aerogel proximity focussing RICH combined with a GEM -based Time Projection Chamber (TPC) in a single box. Both parts, TPC and RICH, are read out...
