Fast data acquisition for silicon tracking detectors at high rates

Abstract

Silicon tracking detectors play a key role in many current high energy physics experiments. To enhance experimental sensitivities for searches for new physics, beam energies and event rates are constantly being increased, which leads to growing volumes of detector data that have to be processed. This thesis covers high-speed data acquisition for silicon tracking detectors in the context of the Mu3e experiment and future hadron collider experiments. For the Mu3e experiment, a vertical slice of the trigger-less readout system is realized as a beam telescope consisting of 8 layers of pixel sensors that are read out using a prototype of the Mu3e front-end board. The performance of the full readout system is studied during beam tests. Sensor hit rates of up to 5 MHz can be handled without significant losses. Hence, the system fulfils the requirements for the first phase of the experiment. To fully exploit the potential of silicon tracking detectors at future hadron collider experiments, the implementation of high-speed data links is mandatory. Wireless links operating at frequencies of 60 GHz and above present an attractive alternative to electrical and optical links, as they offer high bandwidth, small form factor and low power consumption. This thesis describes readout concepts for tracking detectors applying wireless data transfer and presents studies of wireless data transmission.