Speaker
Description
TORCH (Time Of internally Reflected Cherenkov light) is a large-area time-of-flight detector, designed to enhance the particle identification performance of LHCb in the momentum range 2-15 GeV/$c$. It forms part of the foreseen upgrade of the LHCb experiment, for installation in the next decade, to profit from the high-luminosity phase of the LHC. Cherenkov photons produced by charged tracks crossing a 1 cm-thick highly polished quartz plate, arranged in modules of dimensions 250 x 66 cm$^2$, propagate to its edge by total internal reflection, where they are focussed onto fast, highly segmented photon detectors (MCP-PMTs). With a timing resolution of 70 ps per photon, the target of 10-15 ps per track can be achieved. Suitable MCP-PMTs with an active area of 53 x 53 mm$^2$ and granularity of 64 x 8 pixels have been developed in collaboration with an industrial partner (Photek). A general overview will be given of the TORCH concept and the status of the project, along with recent results from a large-scale prototype module with around 3000 detector channels that has been studied with test-beam at the CERN PS in 2022. The current status of the analysis will be presented along with the future development programme.
