Abstract
Since 1984 INFN and University of Pisa scientists performing experiments at Fermilab have been running a two-month summer training program for Italian students at the lab. In 1984 the ...program involved only a few physics students from the University of Pisa, but it was later extended to other INFN groups and to engineering students. Since 2004 the program has been supported in part by the US Department of Energy (DOE) in the frame of an exchange agreement with INFN and has been run by the Cultural Association of Italians at Fermilab (CAIF). In 2007 the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies (Pisa) established an agreement with Fermilab to share the cost of four engineering students each year. In the almost 40 years of its history, the program has hosted at Fermilab approximately 550 Italian students from more than 20 Italian universities and from some non-Italian universities. In addition, in the years 2010-2019, with the support of the Italian National Institute of Astrophyics (INAF), the Italian Space Agency (ASI), and CAIF, 30 students were hosted in other US laboratories and universities. The Fermilab training programs spanned from data analysis to design and construction of particle detectors and accelerator components, R/D on superconductive elements, theory of accelerators, and analysis of astrophysical data. At the other US laboratories the offered training was on Space Science. In 2015 the University of Pisa endorsed the program as one of its own Summer Schools. The interns are enrolled as Pisa students for the duration of the internship. They are required to write summary reports published in the Fermilab and University of Pisa web pages. Upon positive evaluation by a University board, students are acknowledged 6 ECTS credits. The entire program is expected to expand further under CAIF management. An agreement has been signed between ASI and CAIF, for ASI to support yearly three two-months fellowships in US space science. In the following we inform on student recruiting, training programs, and final evaluation
Mu2e will search for the Charge Lepton Flavor Violating (CLFV) conversion of a muon into an electron in the field of a nucleus. A clean discovery signature is provided by the mono-energetic ...conversion electron (
E
e
= 104.96 MeV). If no events are observed, Mu2e will set a limit on the ratio between the conversion and the nuclear capture rate below 3 × 10
−17
(at 90% C.L.). In order to confirm that the observed candidate is an electron, the calorimeter resolution requirements are to provide
E
res
< 10%,
T
res
< 500 ps for 100 MeV electrons while working in vacuum and in a high radiation environment and high magnetic field. The calorimeter is made of two annular aluminum disks, each one filled with 674 pure CsI crystals read out by SiPMs. A sophisticated mechanics and cooling system has been developed to support the crystals and cool the sensors. Radiation hard analog and fast digital electronics have been developed. In this paper the QC tests performed on the produced components and the construction status are reported, as well as the results obtained on the large size prototype with test beam data and at a cosmic ray test stand.
The Mu2e calorimeter consists of 1348 undoped CsI crystals coupled to two large area UV-extended Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs). A modular and custom SiPM layout, a 3×2 matrix of 6×6 mm2 monolithic ...SiPMs, has been developed to satisfy the Mu2e requirements. As well as ensuring the performances needed for the muon-to-electron conversion search, these photosensors have to guarantee a good reliability while operating maintenance-free in the Mu2e hostile environment: any failure can only be replaced during a long technical shut-down scheduled once a year. After testing prototypes from different vendors, we selected Hamamatsu and the final production of about 4000 pieces is now ongoing. A detailed Quality Assurance (QA) program is then mandatory to minimize the risk of an unexpected further degradation in the performances. The QA process for each photosensor includes a first visual inspection and the subsequent characterization of each of its monolithic cells by means of an automatized test station, able to measure the breakdown voltage, the gain and the dark current. For each production batch (∼300 pieces), 5 devices are exposed to a neutron fluency up to ∼1.4×1011 1 MeV (Si) eq. n/cm2; others 15 devices are undergone an accelerated aging in order to verify the Mean Time To Failure (MTTF) of the batch. A summary of the QA and the results for the firsts 4 production batches are presented in the paper.
High bAndwidth coMmercial digitizer for hostile EnvironmenT (HAMLET) Ciolini, R.; Donati, S.; Giusti, V. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
February 2023, 2023-02-00, Letnik:
1047
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The Mu2e collaboration has developed a digitizer board that samples up to 20 differential signals with a frequency of 200 MHz, 12 bits of resolution, and dynamic range 0–2 V. The digitizer has been ...qualified to operate in the hostile environment of Mu2E. The qualification levels are Total Ionizing Dose of 12 Krad and Neutron fluence of ∼10111 MeVneq/cm2, 1 T magnetic field, level of vacuum of 10−4 Torr. The digitizer has aroused considerable commercial interest, as there are currently no digitizers with similar characteristics on the market. The original Mu2e board cannot be used as is and requires both hardware and firmware changes before entering the market. INFN funded a technology transfer project called HAMLET to support this new design. Additionally, HAMLET collaboration developed also a demonstration application based on an array of SiPM coupled to a scintillating crystal and connected to the digitizer. The demonstrator constitutes a complete and scalable, radiation qualified hardware platform, that can be used in hostile environments.
The Mu2e experiment at Fermilab aims to search for the SM forbidden μ−→e− conversion in Al muonic atoms. The signal signature consists of 104.96 MeV electrons, identified by a straw-tube tracker and ...a crystal calorimeter, made of two annular disks. In order to calibrate the calorimeter disks with minimum ionizing particles (MIP) before the installation, we have realized a Cosmic Ray Tagger (CRT) at Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati (LNF) of INFN. The CRT consists of two planes of eight 2.5×1.5×160 cm3 plastic scintillator (EJ-200) bars, coupled to SiPMs on both edges, so as to estimate longitudinal hit positions from time differences. 3D MIP tracking is achieved by reconstructing hit positions in the two planes, placed above and below the disks, and allows to calibrate the energy response, to align the time offsets, and to study the detector performances dependence along the crystals axis.
The Mu2e calorimeter will employ Readout Units, each made of two Silicon Photomultipliers arrays and two Front End Electronics boards. To calibrate them, we have designed, assembled and put in ...operation an automated Quality Control (QC) station. Gain, collected charge and photon detection efficiency are evaluated for each unit. In this paper, the QC Station is presented, in its hardware and software aspects, summarizing also the tests performed on the ROUs and the first measurement results.
The Mu2e experiment (Bernstein et al., 0000) 1 at Fermilab will search for the neutrino-less coherent conversion of a muon into an electron in the field of a nucleus. Mu2e detectors comprise a straw ...tracker, an electromagnetic calorimeter and a veto for cosmic rays. The calorimeter employs 1348 Cesium Iodide crystals readout by silicon photomultipliers and fast front-end and digitization electronics. The front-end electronics consists of two discrete readout circuits (AMP-HV) for each crystal. These provide the amplification and shaping stage,linear regulation of the SiPM bias voltage and monitoring. The SiPM and front-end control electronics is implemented in a battery of mezzanine boards each equipped with an ARM processor that controls a group of 20 Amp-HV circuits, distributes the low voltage and the high-voltage reference values, sets and reads back the locally regulated voltages. The electronic is hosted in crates located on the external surface of calorimeter disks. The crates also host the waveform digitizer board (DIRAC) that performs digitization of the front end signals and transmit the digitized data to the Mu2e DAQ. Calorimeter electronic is hosted inside the cryostat and it must substain very high radiation and magnetic field so it was necessary to fully qualify it. The constraints on the calorimeter front-end and readout electronics, the design technological choices and the qualification tests will be reviewed.
The Mu2e calorimeter will employ Readout Units, each made of two Silicon Photomultipliers arrays and two Front End Electronics boards. To calibrate them, we have designed, assembled and put in ...operation an automated Quality Control (QC) station. Gain, collected charge and photon detection efficiency are evaluated for each unit. Here, in this paper, the QC Station is presented, in its hardware and software aspects, summarizing also the tests performed on the ROUs and the first measurement results.
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