A modular mini-pad photon detector prototype for RICH application at the Electron Ion Collider

J Agarwala,M Gregori,S Dalla Torre,M.L Crespo,S Dasgupta,Y.X Zhao,C.D.R Azevedo,P Ciliberti,G Menon,F Tessarotto,C Chatterjee,S Levorato,A Cicuttin

doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1498/1/012007

Abstract

Experiments at the future Electron Ion Collider require excellent hadron identification in a broad momentum range, in harsh conditions. A RICH capable to fulfill the PID requirements of the EIC could use MPGD-based photon detectors with solid photocathodes for covering large surfaces at affordable cost, providing good effciency, high resolution and compatibility with magnetic field. Photon detectors realized by coupling THGEMs and Micromegas have been successfully operated at the RICH-1 detector of the COMPASS Experiment at CERN since 2016. A similar technology could be envisaged for an EIC RICH, provided a large improvement in the photon position resolution is achieved. An R&D effort in this direction is ongoing at INFN Trieste. Few prototypes with smaller pixel size (down to 3 mm x 3 mm) have been built and tested in the laboratory with X-Ray and UV LED light sources. A modular mini-pad detector prototype has also been tested at the CERN SPS H4 beamline. New data acquisition and analysis software called Raven DAQ and Raven Decoder have been developed and used with the APV-25 based Scalable Readout System (SRS), for the modular mini-pad prototype tests.The main characteristics of the new mini-pad hybrid MPGD-based detector of single photons are described and preliminary results of laboratory and beam tests are presented.

Highlights

The Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) [1], will be the ideal accelerator facility to explore Quantum Chromo Dynamics (QCD) because of its unprecedented luminosity, energy range and beams of polarized electrons colliding with beams of either polarized nucleons or nuclei
The architecture of the new COMPASS Photon Detectors (PDs) consists of three gas multiplication stages: two THGEM layers and a Micromegas (MM); the anode is segmented in square pads of 8 mm pitch and the signals are read via capacitive coupled pads embedded in the anode Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs), by an APV-25 based front-end
The modular minipad prototype PD In view of fulfilling the requirements imposed to the future RICH at the EIC experiments a prototype similar to the COMPASS PDs has been designed and built: it has an active area of 10×10 cm2, an anode segmented in 1024 square 3×3 mm2 pads having 3.5 mm pitch

Summary

Introduction

The Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) [1], will be the ideal accelerator facility to explore Quantum Chromo Dynamics (QCD) because of its unprecedented luminosity, energy range and beams of polarized electrons colliding with beams of either polarized nucleons or nuclei. The architecture of the new COMPASS PDs consists of three gas multiplication stages: two THGEM layers (the first of which is coated with CsI and acts as a reflective photocathode) and a Micromegas (MM); the anode is segmented in square pads of 8 mm pitch and the signals are read via capacitive coupled pads embedded in the anode PCB, by an APV-25 based front-end. 2. The modular minipad prototype PD In view of fulfilling the requirements imposed to the future RICH at the EIC experiments a prototype similar to the COMPASS PDs has been designed and built: it has an active area of 10×10 cm2, an anode segmented in 1024 square 3×3 mm2 pads having 3.5 mm pitch.

Results

Conclusion