A prototype for the SHiP timing detector

Abstract

The proposed SHiP experiment located at the CERN SPS will search for feebly interacting particles with masses below 10 GeV/c2. A veto timing detector will reject combinatorial di-muon backgrounds by requiring event to be coincident in time within 100 ps. The baseline option for the timing detector consist of scintillating bars read out by arrays of silicon photomultipliers. The detector comprises 546 bars of EJ200 scintillating material with dimensions 168 cm × 6 cm × 1 cm broken into three columns and covering an active area of 5 m × 10 m. The end of each bar is read out by an array of eight silicon photomultipliers attached to custom PCBs and subsequently read out by a DAQ system based on a SAMPIC chip. We present test beam results on a single column 22 bar prototype for the SHiP timing detector. Measurements were taken at the T10 beam line of the CERN PS. A timing resolution across the detector is found to be about 90 ps. The particle identification capability using a time of flight method is also demonstrated.