A mixed-signal ASIC for timing and energy measurements with radiation detectors is described. The chip embeds 64 channels, each of which features a charge-sensitive amplifier followed by a ...dual-shaper coupled to low-offset discriminators. A versatile back-end, incorporating low-power Time to Digital Converters and Wilkinson Analog to Digital Converters with derandomizing buffers allows to encode both the time of arrival and the charge of the input signal. The ASIC is designed for a maximum detector capacitance of 100 pF and an event rate in excess of 60 kHz per channel. A peak detector samples the input signal with an excellent linearity in the range 5÷55 fC. Charge digitization with Time-over-Threshold is also supported to extend the dynamic range. Fabricated in a 110 nm CMOS process, the chip dissipates 10 mW/channel. The ASIC was primarily developed to readout the cylindrical GEM detector of the BESIII experiment. For its characteristics it can serve however a broad class of radiation sensors, including silicon microstrip detectors.
Display omitted
•Range monitoring is necessary to fully exploit hadrontherapy advantages.•The Monte Carlo (MC) simulation tool for the INSIDE in-beam PET scanner is described.•The Monte Carlo tool ...provides images directly comparable with the experimental ones.•The comparison with in vivo experimental data validates the tool reliability.•The simulation information is already reliable after the first half of the treatment.
Hadrontherapy is a method for treating cancer with very targeted dose distributions and enhanced radiobiological effects. To fully exploit these advantages, in vivo range monitoring systems are required. These devices measure, preferably during the treatment, the secondary radiation generated by the beam-tissue interactions. However, since correlation of the secondary radiation distribution with the dose is not straightforward, Monte Carlo (MC) simulations are very important for treatment quality assessment.
The INSIDE project constructed an in-beam PET scanner to detect signals generated by the positron-emitting isotopes resulting from projectile-target fragmentation. In addition, a FLUKA-based simulation tool was developed to predict the corresponding reference PET images using a detailed scanner model.
The INSIDE in-beam PET was used to monitor two consecutive proton treatment sessions on a patient at the Italian Center for Oncological Hadrontherapy (CNAO). The reconstructed PET images were updated every 10 s providing a near real-time quality assessment. By half-way through the treatment, the statistics of the measured PET images were already significant enough to be compared with the simulations with average differences in the activity range less than 2.5 mm along the beam direction. Without taking into account any preferential direction, differences within 1 mm were found.
In this paper, the INSIDE MC simulation tool is described and the results of the first in vivo agreement evaluation are reported. These results have justified a clinical trial, in which the MC simulation tool will be used on a daily basis to study the compliance tolerances between the measured and simulated PET images.
The CERN RD53 collaboration was founded to tackle the extraordinary challenges associated with the design of pixel readout chips for the innermost layers of particle trackers at future high energy ...physics experiments. Around 20 institutions are involved in the collaboration, which has the support of both ATLAS and CMS experiments. The goals of the collaboration include the comprehensive understanding of radiation effects in the 65 nm technology, the development of tools and methodology to efficiently design large complex mixed signal chips and, ultimately, the development of a full size readout chip featuring a 400 × 400 pixel array with 50μm pitch. In August 2017, the collaboration submitted the large scale chip RD53A, integrating a matrix of 400 × 192 pixels and embodying three different analog front-end designs. This work discusses the characteristic of the RD53A chip, with some emphasis on the analog processors, and presents the first test results on the pixel array.
•High particle rates and radiation levels will be reached at the HL-LHC.•New pixel chips for the phase II upgrades of CMS and ATLAS are required.•The RD53A chip has been designed in the framework of the RD53 Collaboration.•Three analog front-ends flavors are integrated in RD53A.•The paper presents the main preliminary results coming from RD53A characterization.
Abstract Aria is a plant hosting a $${350}\,\hbox {m}$$ 350 m cryogenic isotopic distillation column, the tallest ever built, which is being installed in a mine shaft at Carbosulcis S.p.A., ...Nuraxi-Figus (SU), Italy. Aria is one of the pillars of the argon dark-matter search experimental program, lead by the Global Argon Dark Matter Collaboration. It was designed to reduce the isotopic abundance of $${^{39}\hbox {Ar}}$$ 39 Ar in argon extracted from underground sources, called Underground Argon (UAr), which is used for dark-matter searches. Indeed, $${^{39}\hbox {Ar}}$$ 39 Ar is a $$\beta $$ β -emitter of cosmogenic origin, whose activity poses background and pile-up concerns in the detectors. In this paper, we discuss the requirements, design, construction, tests, and projected performance of the plant for the isotopic cryogenic distillation of argon. We also present the successful results of the isotopic cryogenic distillation of nitrogen with a prototype plant.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The CGEM-IT readout chain Amoroso, A.; Baldini Ferroli, R.; Balossino, I. ...
Journal of instrumentation,
08/2021, Letnik:
16, Številka:
8
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
An innovative Cylindrical Gas Electron Multiplier (CGEM) detector is under construction for the upgrade of the inner tracker of the BESIII experiment. A novel system has been worked out for the ...readout of the CGEM detector, including a new ASIC, dubbed TIGER -Torino Integrated GEM Electronics for Readout, designed for the amplification and digitization of the CGEM output signals. The data output by TIGER are collected and processed by a first FPGA-based module, GEM Read Out Card, in charge of configuration and control of the front-end ASICs. A second FPGA-based module, named GEM Data Concentrator, builds the trigger selected event packets containing the data and stores them via the main BESIII data acquisition system. The design of the electronics chain, including the power and signal distribution, will be presented together with its performance.
The activation of materials due to exposure to cosmic rays may become an important background source for experiments investigating rare event phenomena. DarkSide-20k, currently under construction at ...the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, is a direct detection experiment for galactic dark matter particles, using a two-phase liquid-argon Time Projection Chamber (TPC) filled with 49.7 tonnes (active mass) of Underground Argon (UAr) depleted in 39Ar. Despite the outstanding capability of discriminating γ/β background in argon TPCs, this background must be considered because of induced dead time or accidental coincidences mimicking dark-matter signals and it is relevant for low-threshold electron-counting measurements. Here, the cosmogenic activity of relevant long-lived radioisotopes induced in the experiment has been estimated to set requirements and procedures during preparation of the experiment and to check that it is not dominant over primordial radioactivity; particular attention has been paid to the activation of the 120 t of UAr used in DarkSide-20k. Expected exposures above ground and production rates, either measured or calculated, have been considered in detail. From the simulated counting rates in the detector due to cosmogenic isotopes, it is concluded that activation in copper and stainless steel is not problematic. The activity of 39Ar induced during extraction, purification and transport on surface is evaluated to be 2.8% of the activity measured in UAr by DarkSide-50 experiment, which used the same underground source, and thus considered acceptable. Other isotopes in the UAr such as 37Ar and 3H are shown not to be relevant due to short half-life and assumed purification methods.
Abstract
Future liquid-argon DarkSide-20k and Argo detectors, designed for direct dark matter search, will be sensitive also to core-collapse supernova neutrinos, via coherent elastic ...neutrino-nucleus scattering. This interaction channel is flavor-insensitive with a high-cross section, enabling for a high-statistics neutrino detection with target masses of ∼50 t and ∼360 t for DarkSide-20k and Argo respectively.
Thanks to the low-energy threshold of ∼0.5 keV
nr
achievable by exploiting the ionization channel, DarkSide-20k and Argo have the potential to discover supernova bursts throughout our galaxy and up to the Small Magellanic Cloud, respectively, assuming a 11-M
☉
progenitor star. We report also on the sensitivity to the neutronization burst, whose electron neutrino flux is suppressed by oscillations when detected via charged current and elastic scattering. Finally, the accuracies in the reconstruction of the average and total neutrino energy in the different phases of the supernova burst, as well as its time profile, are also discussed, taking into account the expected background and the detector response.
Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors are becoming increasingly attractive as charge particle tracking devices for the next generation of High Energy Physics experiments. For this reason several R&D ...activities are ongoing in different laboratories to improve the performance of conventional monolithics in terms of signal to noise ratio and radiation tolerance. Those improvements come both from the use of different technologies and materials and from the optimization of the front-end electronics. In this context, technologies which allow simultaneous integration of analog and digital electronics in the same pixel are also increasingly exploited.Here, a versatile readout electronics has been specifically developed for a detailed characterization of MAPS with an expected depletion depth of more than 30 \mu \mathrm {m}. Different silicon substrates have been explored to achieve the best performance. The ASIC prototype has been fabricated in 0.11 \mu \mathrm {m} CMOS technology with a die area of 2 \times 2 mm 2 and a low voltage operation of 1.2 V. The test chip consists of a matrix of 24 \times 24 pixel units organized in 4 independent sectors and an End of Column logic. The in-pixel electronics fits an area of 30 \times 30 \mu \mathrm {m}^{2} and it is therefore suitable to develop compact monolithic pixels of 40 \times 40 \mu \mathrm {m}^{2} or more. The strong point of such readout system is the flexibility which allows to get a low power consumption, a very easy scalability and a good adaptability for both sensor polarities. Hereafter, the front-end electronics is described and detailed tests obtained on a first submission presented.
Abstract
A Cylindrical Gas Electron Multiplier (CGEM) is under construction for the upgrade of the BESIII inner tracker. A preliminary simulation of the CGEM signal before the frond-end electronics ...has been worked out by making some sampling models from the beforehand Garfield++ simulation. The electronics response functions are implemented making the simulation of CGEM more complete. By comparing the cosmic-ray data acquired by two layers of CGEM and the simulation, the micro-sector effect is simulated and some key parameters in the sampling models are fine tuned in this order: gain, charge sharing, charge fluctuation and electron diffusion. A general agreement is achieved between the cosmic-ray data and the simulation with these improvements.
PDF
