18–22 Feb 2019
Vienna University of Technology
Europe/Vienna timezone

Progress on the PICOSEC-Micromegas Detector Development: towards a precise timing, radiation hard, large-scale particle detector with segmented readout

20 Feb 2019, 09:50
20m
EI9

EI9

Talk Gaseous Detectors Gas Detectors

Speaker

Kostas Kordas (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (GR))

Description

Detectors with a time resolution of a few 10ps and robustness in high particle fluxes are necessary for precise 4D track reconstruction in future, high luminosity HEP experiments. In the context of the RD51 collaboration, the PICOSEC detector concept has been developed, which is a two-stage Micromegas detector with a photocathode coupled to a Cherenkov radiator. Single channel PICOSEC prototypes equipped with a CsI photocathode have demonstrated an excellent resolution, of 24 ps, for timing the arrival of MIPs. The PICOSEC timing characteristics have been extensively studied with laser beams and have been understood in terms of detailed simulations and phenomenological models.
Due to the fact that ion back-flow in the drift region damages the CsI photocathode, alternative photocathode materials (e.g., pure metallic and Diamond-Like Carbon) have been investigated. Comparison of the charge distribution of the PICOSEC response signal to UV light and muons, allows to consistently estimate the photoelectron yield of the photocathode, a parameter which affects critically the PICOSEC performance. Different resistive anode layers have also been tested for stable operation in a high intensity pion beam.
Towards developing PICOSEC detectors for practical applications, multi-channel PICOSEC prototypes with CsI photocathodes and anodes segmented in hexagonal pads (5 mm side) have been tested in UV light and muon beams. After correcting for systematic errors due to imperfections on the anode planarity, a uniform timing resolution of 25 ps for each pad is achieved. Furthermore, a similar timing resolution has been measured for signals shared across multiple pads.
This conference contribution will present the progress and developments towards a well understood, robust, large-area, PICOSEC detector offering precise timing in the HL-LHC era and beyond.

Primary author

Kostas Kordas (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (GR))

Co-authors

Xu Wang Yi Zhou (University of Science and Technology of China (CN)) Francisco Jose Iguaz Gutierrez (IRFU/CEA-Saclay) Florian Maximilian Brunbauer (CERN, Vienna University of Technology (AT)) Jona Bortfeldt (Ludwig-Maximilians-Univ. Muenchen (DE)) Claude David (CERN) Georgios Fanourakis (Nat. Cent. for Sci. Res. Demokritos (GR)) Michele Gallinaro (LIP Lisbon) Jonathan Franchi (CERN) Francisco Ignacio Garcia Fuentes (Helsinki Institute of Physics (FI)) Zhiyong Zhang (University of Science and Technology of China (CN)) Diego Gonzalez Diaz (Uludag University (TR)) Ioanis Giomataris (Université Paris-Saclay (FR)) philippe Legou Claude Guyot (Saclay CEA/IRFU) Michael Lupberger (University of Bonn) Prof. Jianbei Liu (University of Science and technology of China) Hans Muller Ioannis Manthos (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) Vasileios Niaouris Thomas Papaevangelou (Université Paris-Saclay (FR)) Eraldo Oliveri (CERN) Spyros Tzamarias (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (GR)) Yorgos Tsipolitis (National Technical Univ. of Athens (GR)) Miranda Van Stenis (CERN) Rob Veenhof (Uludag University (TR)) Sebastian White (University of Virginia (US)) Patrik Thuiner (Vienna University of Technology (AT)) Lukas Sohl (Université Paris-Saclay (FR))

Presentation materials