SRS-based Timepix3 readout system Gruber, M.; Desch, K.; Hemperek, T. ...
Journal of instrumentation,
04/2022, Volume:
17, Issue:
4
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Abstract
With the combination of the highly granular pixel ASIC Timepix3 by the Medipix3 collaboration and several technologies we are developing a range of detectors. These technologies are bump ...bonded sensors, microchannel plates (MCP) and photolithographically postprocessed gas amplification stages (InGrid). For example, we are using the combination of the ASIC and an InGrid for the development of X-ray detectors for X-ray polarimetry and for axion search at IAXO. Based on the combination of the ASIC and silicon sensors we are developing a tracker or respectively a beam telescope. The combination of the ASIC and a microchannel plate will be used for neutron detectors. As this range of detectors has several requirements towards the readout and control system and a wide range of designs from low- to high-rate (Hz to MHz) and from single- to multichip, a versatile readout system is needed which adapts these applications without producing too much overhead for the others. To fulfil these requirements, we are developing a modular and scalable readout and control system based on the basil framework — a modular data acquisition system and system testing framework. The fully open-source implementation uses Verilog for the firmware and Python for the software. The system supports several FPGA boards to offer different applications a range of capabilities. One of these FPGA boards is the Scalable Readout System (SRS) by RD51 which offers scalability in low to medium rate applications. For high-rate applications we are working towards the firmware implementation on Xilinx adaptive compute acceleration platform. Besides the scalability, the system offers an optional monitoring interface via a microcontroller for monitoring chip temperatures and power supply voltages. Additionally, further external sensors could be connected to the monitoring system for example via I
2
C or SPI. For controlling the full system, the software offers a command line interface and a graphical user interface. Both interfaces also include an online event display to monitor the raw data. Additional meta data and data of the monitoring system is stored in a database and can be visualised with a monitoring dashboard.
The proposed International Linear Collider (ILC) is well-suited for discovering physics beyond the Standard Model and for precisely unraveling the structure of the underlying physics. The physics ...return can be maximized by the use of polarized beams. This report shows the paramount role of polarized beams and summarizes the benefits obtained from polarizing the positron beam, as well as the electron beam. The physics case for this option is illustrated explicitly by analyzing reference reactions in different physics scenarios. The results show that positron polarization, combined with the clean experimental environment provided by the linear collider, allows to improve strongly the potential of searches for new particles and the identification of their dynamics, which opens the road to resolve shortcomings of the Standard Model. The report also presents an overview of possible designs for polarizing both beams at the ILC, as well as for measuring their polarization.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Prototyping serial powering with RD53A Hinterkeuser, F; Hamer, M; Daas, M ...
Journal of physics. Conference series,
11/2022, Volume:
2374, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The ATLAS inner detector will be replaced by an all-silicon detector for the HL-LHC upgrade around 2025. The innermost five layers of the detector system will be pixel detector layers which will be ...most challenging in terms of radiation hardness, data rate and readout speed. A serial power scheme will be used for the pixel layers to reduce the material budget and power consumption in cables. New elements are required to operate and monitor a serially powered detector including a detector control system, constant current sources and front-end electronics with shunt regulators. Prototypes for all sections of the ITk pixel detector are built to verify the concept and operate multiple serial power chains as a system test. The evaluation of both the readout of multi-modules and mechanical integration are further aims of the prototyping campaign. In the contribution, results will be presented of this prototyping effort. Moreover, details and features of serial powering for full detector systems will be given.
The implementation of the VMM3a Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) into the Scalable Readout System (SRS) has opened a new domain for measurements with Micro-Pattern Gaseous Detectors ...(MPGDs). In the presented studies we demonstrate the capabilities of this system, specifically the time-resolution in the nanosecond regime in combination with a continuous multichannel readout and a 10-bit ADC. We can now resolve the interaction of argon fluorescence X-ray photons created in a gaseous detector and utilise these interactions to determine the electron drift velocity in our detector and to investigate the attenuation length of the fluorescence photons.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
The VMM3a is an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), specifically developed for the readout of gaseous detectors. Originally developed within the ATLAS New Small Wheel (NSW) upgrade, it ...has been successfully integrated into the Scalable Readout System (SRS) of the RD51 collaboration. This allows, to use the VMM3a also in small laboratory set-ups and mid-scale experiments, which make use of Micro-Pattern Gaseous Detectors (MPGDs). As part of the integration of the VMM3a into the SRS, the readout and data transfer scheme was optimised to reach a high rate-capability of the entire readout system and profit from the VMM3a’s high single-channel rate-capability of 3.6Mhits/s. The optimisation focused mainly on the handling of the data output stream of the VMM3a, but also on the development of a trigger-logic between the front-end cards and the DAQ computer. In this article, two firmware implementations of the non-ATLAS continuous readout mode are presented, as well as the implementation of the trigger-logic. Afterwards, a short overview on X-ray imaging results is presented, to illustrate the high rate-capability from an application point-of-view.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
16.
X-ray imaging with gaseous detectors using the VMM3a and the SRS Scharenberg, L.; Bortfeldt, J.; Brunbauer, F. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
09/2021, Volume:
1011
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The integration of the VMM3a Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) into RD51’s Scalable Readout System (SRS) provides a versatile tool for the readout of Micro-Pattern Gaseous Detectors ...(MPGDs). With its self-triggered high-rate readout, its analogue part that allows to get information on the deposited energy in the detector, and its so-called neighbouring-logic that allows to recover information on the charge distribution, this new system has features of particular interest for digital X-ray imaging. In the present article, we want to emphasise the capabilities of VMM3a/SRS by presenting results of X-ray imaging studies. We will highlight the advantages on the energy and the spatial resolution provided by the neighbouring-logic. In the first part, we focus on spatial resolution studies. We show how segmented readout structures introduce a repeating pattern in the distribution of the reconstructed positions (using the centre-of-gravity method) and how this behaviour can be mitigated with the neighbouring-logic. As part of these studies, we explore as well an alternative position reconstruction algorithm. In the second part of the article, we present the energy resolution studies.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Provided that Supersymmetry (SUSY) is realized, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and the future International Linear Collider (ILC) may provide a wealth of precise data from SUSY processes. An ...important task will be to extract the Lagrangian parameters. On this basis the goal is to uncover the underlying symmetry breaking mechanism from the measured observables. In order to determine the SUSY parameters, the program Fittino has been developed. It uses an iterative fitting technique and a Simulated Annealing algorithm to determine the SUSY parameters directly from the observables without any
a priori knowledge of the parameters, using all available loop-corrections to masses and couplings. Simulated Annealing is implemented as a stable and efficient method for finding the optimal parameter values. The theoretical predictions can be provided from any program with SUSY Les Houches Accord interface. As fit result, a set of parameters including the full error matrix and two-dimensional uncertainty contours are obtained. Pull distributions can automatically be created and allow an independent cross-check of the fit results and possible systematic shifts in the parameter determination. A determination of the importance of the individual observables for the measurement of each parameter can be performed after the fit. A flexible user interface is implemented, allowing a wide range of different types of observables and a wide range of parameters to be used.
Program title: Fittino
Catalogue identifier: ADWN
Program summary URL:
http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/ADWN
Licensing provisions: GNU General Public License
Programming language:
C++
Computer: any computer
Operating system: Linux and other Unix flavors
RAM: ca. 22 MB
No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 111 962
No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 1 006 727
Distribution format: tar.gz
Number of processors used: 1
External routines: The ROOT data analysis framework, the SPheno spectrum calculator (included in the distribution). (SPheno may be replaced by any SUSY code which makes predictions for observables and communicates via the SLHA.)
Nature of problem: Provided supersymmetry is realized in Nature, a wealth of data will become available at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and the International Linear Collider (ILC). One of the most important tasks will be to extract the SUSY Lagrangian parameters from the measured observables. The large number of SUSY parameters and complicated correlations induced by loop corrections make the parameter determination difficult. Starting a global SUSY parameter fit initialized with tree-level estimates turned out to be an insufficient approach because the MINUIT fitting algorithm is likely to get stuck in local minima.
Solution method: To overcome the encountered problems without using
a priori knowledge, two strategies have been implemented in Fittino. The first one performs the fit in several steps (sub-sector fit method). It starts fitting certain sub-sets of parameters to certain sub-sets of observables and thereby slowly improves the parameter values. Finally the values are good enough to start a global SUSY parameter fit.
The second approach uses simulated annealing to improve the tree-level estimates of the parameters to an extend where MINUIT succeeds to perform a global SUSY parameter fit.
Restrictions: The current version of Fittino (version 1.1.1) assumes that there is no CP violation in the SUSY sector, no mixing between generations and no mixing within the first two generations.
Running time: Depending on the complexity of the problem, the running time varies from a few minutes to several weeks.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
We present the first prototype of a novel thermal neutron detector using the time projection method. The system consists of 8 TimePix ASICs with postprocessed InGrid meshes. Each ASIC has 256×256 ...pixels of 55 µm × 55 µm in size with the capability to measure charge or time. This allows to visualize entire conversion particle tracks with their spatial and time information and, by using event reconstruction algorithms, discriminate against the background of others. By using the Scalable Readout System the detector as presented here could also be upscaled to much larger active areas. In the current configuration with a B410C layer of 1μm thickness aligned in parallel to the readout we could achieve in Ar:CO2 80:20 a spatial resolution of σ=(115±8)μm.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
Abstract
A time projection chamber (TPC) with micropattern gaseous detector (MPGD) readout is investigated as main tracking device of the International Large Detector (ILD) concept at the planned ...International Linear Collider (ILC).
A prototype TPC equipped with a triple gas electron multiplier (GEM) readout has been built and operated in an electron test beam.
The TPC was placed in a 1 T solenoidal field at the DESY II Test Beam Facility, which provides an electron beam up to 6 GeV/
c
.
The performance of the readout modules, in particular the spatial point resolution, is determined and compared to earlier tests. New studies are presented with first results on the separation of close-by tracks and the capability of the system to measure the specific energy loss d
E
/d
x
.
This is complemented by a simulation study on the optimization of the readout granularity to improve particle identification by d
E
/d
x
.
Abstract
The RD51 collaboration maintains a common infrastructure at CERN for its R & D
activities, including two beam telescopes for test beam campaigns. Recently, one of the beam
telescopes has ...been equipped and commissioned with new multi-channel and charge-sensitive
front-end electronics based on the ATLAS/BNL VMM3a front-end ASIC and the RD51 Scalable Readout
System (SRS). This allows to read out the detectors at high rates (up to the MHz regime) with
electronics time resolutions of the order of 1 ns and the ability to handle different detector
types and sizes, due to a larger dynamic range compared to the previous front-end electronics
based on the APV25 ASIC. Having studied and improved the beam telescope's performance over the
course of three test beam campaigns, the results are presented in this paper.
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