GeV Proton Beam Research Articles

Novel indium phosphide charged particle detector characterization with a 120 GeV proton beam

Thin film detectors which incorporate semiconductor materials other than silicon have the potential to build upon their unique material properties and offer advantages such as faster response times, operation at room temperature, and radiation hardness. To explore the possibility, promising candidate materials were selected, and particle tracking detectors were fabricated. An indium phosphide detector with a metal-intrinsic-metal structure has been fabricated for particle tracking. The detector was tested using radioactive sources and a high energy proton beam at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. In addition to its simplistic design and fabrication process, the indium phosphide particle detector showed a very fast response time of hundreds of picoseconds for the 120 GeV protons, which are comparable to the ultra-fast silicon detectors. This fast-timing response is attributed to the high electron mobility of indium phosphide. Such material properties can be leveraged to build novel detectors with superlative performance.

Proton and muon beam tests for ultra-fast MCP-PMT detectors

In collaboration with the North Night Vision Science and Technology (Nanjing) Research Institute Co. Ltd, researchers at the Institute of High Energy of Physics in China have successfully developed the 20-inch micro-channel-plate photomultiplier tube (MCP-PMT) that exhibits high detection efficiency (DE) for use in the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO). Due to the long drift path of electrons from photocathode to MCP, the 20-inch MCP-PMT has a time resolution on the order of nanoseconds. Recently, the team has made advancements in ultra-fast MCP-PMTs (FPMTs), achieving picosecond-level time resolution with both 1-inch and 2-inch types. By now, prototypes featuring single-anode, 2 × 2 anodes, 4 × 4 anodes, and 8 × 8 anodes have been successfully manufactured and tested. The 8 × 8 anode FPMT, in particular, demonstrates a transit time spread (TTS) of 36 ps (Sigma) in single photon mode, thanks to its meticulously engineered structure. To assess the FPMT’s time performance under beam conditions, two beam tests were conducted at Fermi Lab and CERN. In these tests, the 8 × 8 pixel arrays of four distinct radiators, including LYSO, BGO, Pb glass and quartz glass, were paired with the 8 × 8 anodes FPMT. This setup involved the use of two radiator-coupled FPMT detectors for particle detection. The best coincidence time resolution recorded was 64 ps (Sigma) with a 120 GeV proton beam and 56 ps (Sigma) with a 108 GeV muon beam.

Polarization Measurements of p↑ and 3He↑ Beams at RHIC and Future EIC Using the Polarized Atomic Hydrogen Gas Jet Target

At the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), the Polarized Atomic Hydrogen Gas Jet Target polarimeter (HJET) is employed for the precise measurement of the absolute transverse (vertical) polarization of proton beams, achieving low systematic uncertainties of approximately σPsyst/P≤0.5%. The acquired experimental data not only facilitated the determination of single AN(t) and double ANN(t) spin analyzing powers for 100 and 255 GeV proton beams, but also revealed a non-zero Pomeron spin-flip contribution through a Regge fit. Preliminary results obtained for forward inelastic p↑p and elastic p↑A analyzing powers will be discussed. The success of the HJET at RHIC suggests its potential application for proton beam polarimetry at the upcoming Electron–Ion Collider (EIC), aiming for an accuracy of 1%. Moreover, the provided analysis indicates that the RHIC HJET target can serve as a tool for the precision calibration, with the required accuracy, of the 3He beam polarization at the EIC.

Simulation study on the slow extraction for the improvement of the beam shill structure at J-PARC Main Ring

J-PARC Main Ring (MR) delivers a slow extracted 30 GeV proton beam to the Hadron Experimental Facility using third-order resonance. One of the critical properties required for the proton beam is the flatness of the time structure of the extracted beam (spill structure). We performed a simple beam simulation of the MR slow beam extraction to investigate the effect of the current ripples of the main magnet power supplies on the beam spill structure. In addition, we investigated in the simulation the effects of the feedback control system on the betatron tune using fast Q magnets and the transverse RF system to improve the spill structure. The simulation qualitatively reproduced the measured spill structures. Now the attempts to optimize their parameters for better spill structure are ongoing.

Development of proton beam irradiation system for the NA65/DsTau experiment

Tau neutrino is the least studied lepton of the Standard Model (SM). The NA65/DsTau experiment targets to investigate Ds , the parent particle of the ντ , using the nuclear emulsion-based detector and to decrease the systematic uncertainty of ντ flux prediction from over 50 % to 10 % for future beam dump experiments. In the experiment, the emulsion detectors are exposed to the CERN SPS 400 GeV proton beam. To provide optimal conditions for the reconstruction of interactions, the protons are required to be uniformly distributed over the detector's surface with an average density of 105 cm-2 and the fluctuation of less than 10%. To address this issue, we developed a new proton irradiation system called the target mover. The new target mover provided irradiation with a proton density of 1.01 × 105 cm-2 and the density fluctuation of 1.9 ± 0.3% in the DsTau 2021 run.

First survey of centimeter-scale AC-LGAD strip sensors with a 120 GeV proton beam

We present the first beam test results with centimeter-scale AC-LGAD strip sensors, using the Fermilab Test Beam Facility and sensors manufactured by the Brookhaven National Laboratory. Sensors of this type are envisioned for applications that require large-area precision 4D tracking coverage with economical channel counts, including timing layers for the Electron Ion Collider (EIC), and space-based particle experiments. A survey of sensor designs is presented, with the aim of optimizing the electrode geometry for spatial resolution and timing performance. Several design considerations are discussed towards maintaining desirable signal characteristics with increasingly larger electrodes. The resolutions obtained with several prototypes are presented, reaching simultaneous 18 μm and 32 ps resolutions from strips of 1 cm length and 500 μm pitch. With only slight modifications, these sensors would be ideal candidates for a 4D timing layer at the EIC.

Signal amplification in multistage charge collection process in Si detectors in situ irradiated at superfluid helium temperature

The effect of charge multiplication in Si p+-n-n+ detectors observed in the unique conditions of the in situ irradiation with 23 GeV proton beam fragmented into 400 ms spills and the temperature of superfluid helium, 1.9 K, was analyzed. The current pulse responses of the detector irradiated to 5 × 1013 p/cm2 demonstrated a two-stage process of charge collection, in which, in the first stage, the current was induced by holes, and in the second, by electrons arising due to avalanche multiplication produced by holes. In the detector irradiated to 2.7 × 1014 p/cm2, the third stage of charge collection was observed that was related to avalanche multiplication produced by electrons reaching the n+ contact and sequential drift of generated holes back to the p+ contact. The developed procedure of data treatment allowed extracting the full set of carrier transport parameters and internal charge gain rising to 3.7 at the bias voltage of 400 V and the fluence of 5 × 1013 p/cm2. An evolution of charge multiplication at the p+ contact initiated by holes originated from a high rate of the hole trap introduction at 1.9 K described by a fivefold rise in the trapping probability at 1.9 K in comparison with its value at T = -10°C. This increases the electric field near the p+ contact and leads to the avalanche multiplication affecting the following stages of charge collection.

Argonne Pixel Tracking Telescope at the Fermilab Test Beam Facility

The Argonne Pixel Tracking Telescope is installed at the Fermilab Test Beam Facility. The telescope consists of six planar n+-in-n silicon sensors with a pixel size of 250 × 50 μm2. The instrumentation of the telescope is described including the electrical and mechanical setups. A 120 GeV proton beam is used to evaluate the telescope performance using criteria such as cluster size, pixel tracking efficiency, and spatial resolution. The spatial resolution of the telescope is measured to be 72 μm × 13 μm and is consistent with the resolution determined from the simulation. This telescope will be used to test the performance of the various silicon pixel technology as well as to study the effects and the performance of the detectors after being irradiated.

Improving count rate capability of timing RPCs by increasing the detector working temperature

This communication describes test beam results, focusing on detection efficiency and timing precision, of common float glass timing Resistive Plate Chambers (tRPCs) exposed to a 2.7 GeV proton beam and operated at above ambient temperature in order to increase the count rate capability of the chambers, by exploiting the reduction in the resistivity of the glass electrodes. Results suggest that the count rate capability can be extended at least up to 1500Hz/cm2 when the detector is operated at 40.6°C without noticeable loss of efficiency or timing precision degradation with values around 90% and 100 ps, respectively, for this specific timing RPC arrangement.

The Mu2e experiment — Searching for charged lepton flavor violation

The Mu2e experiment will search for a Standard Model violating rate of neutrinoless conversion of a muon into an electron in the presence of an aluminum nucleus. Observation of this charged lepton flavor violating process would be an unambiguous sign of new physics. Mu2e will improve upon previous searches for this process by four orders of magnitude. This requires the world’s highest-intensity muon beam, a detector system capable of efficiently reconstructing the 105 MeV/c conversion electron signal, and minimizing sensitivity to background events. A pulsed 8 GeV proton beam strikes a target, producing pions that decay into muons. Beam outside the pulse must be suppressed to <10−10 to reduce beam-related backgrounds. The muon beam is guided from the production target along the transport system and onto the aluminum stopping target. Conversion electrons leave the stopping target and propagate inside a solenoidal magnetic field to the tracker and electromagnetic calorimeter. The tracker is a system of straw tube panels filled with Ar/CO2 at 1 atm that tracks particles inside of a solenoidal B-field and measures their momenta with ∼100 keV/c resolution to resolve signal events from decay-in-orbit backgrounds. The CsI calorimeter provides E/p and is used to seed the track reconstruction algorithm with σE/E∼10% and σt<500ps. Additionally, a novel cosmic ray veto with greater than 99.99% efficiency brings the expected number of background events to fewer than one over three years of running. To normalize the experiment, the stopping target monitor measures the rate of capture photons from muons incident on the stopping target by using a system of high-purity germanium and lanthanum bromide scintillators.

A liquid hydrogen tube moderator arrangement for SNS second target station.

Liquid hydrogen filled tubes arranged in a triangular shape surrounded by light-water premoderators were investigated as cold moderators coupled to a neutron production zone of a tungsten target fed by a 1.3 GeV proton beam in a short-pulse mode. A moderator concept optimized for the tube length, premoderator thickness, and target position was found to deliver the highest pulse-integrated neutron brightness suitable to send cold neutron beams for neutron scattering instrumentation geared toward medium resolution and small samples. Reducing the tube diameter from 50 to 10mm boosts the cold neutron brightness (E < 10meV) by a factor of 2.25, also with enhancements seen by downsizing the height of cylindrical moderators in earlier studies. Attempts were made to characterize this novel moderator system with regard to pulse shapes, local brightness distribution, and angular distribution of emission at the neutron emission port.

Beam test performance of a prototype module with Short Strip ASICs for the CMS HL-LHC tracker upgrade

The Short Strip ASIC (SSA) is one of the four front-end chips designed for the upgrade of the CMS Outer Tracker for the High Luminosity LHC. Together with the Macro-Pixel ASIC (MPA) it will instrument modules containing a strip and a macro-pixel sensor stacked on top of each other. The SSA provides both full readout of the strip hit information when triggered, and, together with the MPA, correlated clusters called stubs from the two sensors for use by the CMS Level-1 (L1) trigger system. Results from the first prototype module consisting of a sensor and two SSA chips are presented. The prototype module has been characterized at the Fermilab Test Beam Facility using a 120 GeV proton beam.

Optimizing the GPU based method calculating energy deposition of beams coupling with discrete materials in dynamical and thermal simulations for higher computing efficiency

In order to obtain more accurate energy deposition simulation results of beams coupling with discrete materials especially the granular materials in dynamical and thermal simulations, a discrete energy deposition calculation method was proposed previously to replace the equivalent homogenization method and accelerated with GPUs (Tian et al., 2021 [10]). However, it was found that the computing efficiency drops so severely with the increasing of the energy space size and the time required for simulations increases greatly unacceptably. In this work, for higher computing performance, based on the bottleneck analyses of CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) kernels of the previous method, two improvements were made to the space cell marking phase and the energy deposition phase. In the space cell marking phase, a new proposed Lagrange-Euler Mapping Method searching the fixed space cells through flowing grains replaced the previous Euler Searching Method searching the flowing grains from fixed space cells. In the energy deposition phase, a warp aggregation method was used, assigning fewer threads to perform atomic operations. In the simulation of a granular-flow target bombarded by a 1 GeV proton beam setting a large energy computing space with a number of cells up to ∼108, the improved algorithm can effectively reduce the number of memory access instructions of CUDA warps. As a result, the computing performance was improved by 85% on A100 GPUs and 206% on K80 GPUs, making the dynamical and thermal simulations of granular-flow targets more efficient. Our method also could be beneficial for simulating the interactions between arbitrary source (or field) with a fixed spatial distribution and discrete materials.

Characterization of BNL and HPK AC-LGAD sensors with a 120 GeV proton beam

We present measurements of AC-LGADs performed at the Fermilab's test beam facility using 120 GeV protons. We studied the performance of various strip and pad AC-LGAD sensors that were produced by BNL and HPK. The measurements are performed with our upgraded test beam setup that utilizes a high precision telescope tracker, and a simultaneous readout of up to 7 channels per sensor, which allows detailed studies of signal sharing characteristics. These measurements allow us to assess the differences in designs between different manufacturers, and optimize them based on experimental performance. We then study several reconstruction algorithms to optimize position and time resolutions that utilize the signal sharing properties of each sensor. We present a world's first demonstration of silicon sensors in a test beam that simultaneously achieve better than 6–10 μm position and 30 ps time resolution. This represents a substantial improvement to the spatial resolution than would be obtained with binary readout of sensors with similar pitch.

Inelastic dark matter at the Fermilab Short Baseline Neutrino Program

We study the sensitivity of the Fermilab Short-Baseline Neutrino (SBN) experiments, MicroBooNE, ICARUS, and SBND, to MeV- to GeV-scale inelastic dark matter interacting through a dark photon mediator. These models provide interesting scenarios of light thermal dark matter, which, while challenging to probe with direct and indirect detection experiments, are amenable to accelerator-based searches. We consider production of the dark sector states with both the Fermilab Booster 8 GeV and NuMI 120 GeV proton beams and study the signatures of scattering and decay of the heavy excited dark state in the SBN detectors. These distinct signatures probe complementary regions of parameter space. All three experiments will be able to cover new ground, with an excellent near-term opportunity to search for cosmologically motivated targets explaining the observed dark matter abundance.

Construction Status of the COMET Experimental Facility

The COMET experiment searches for the process of the muon-to-electron conversion [1]. The process violates the lepton flavor conservation and is the phenomenon of the Beyond-Standard Model of the particle physics. The 8 GeV proton beam is required for the experiment and is provided from the J-PARC Main Ring via the existing Hadron Hall. Due to lower beam energy compared to the nominal beam of 30 GeV, the beam emittance is larger than the nominal and the beam optics needs to be optimized. The new beamline for COMET is being constructed in the Hadron Hall and will be completed in 2015. The proton beam is delivered to the newly-constructed experimental hall for the COMET experiment. A major concern on designing the experimental hall is the radiation safety. The COMET experiment requires 56kW of beam energy at the final stage (3kW required at the first stage) and the significant energy is converted to radiation. To satisfy regulation for the radiation safety, the experimental area will be constructed in underground. Figure 1 displays the layout of the experimental area. The area is divided into two regions; a beam room (center in Figure 1) where the primary proton beam interacts with the target to generate a lot of muons, and an experimental room (left in Figure 1) where the generated muons are delivered to search for the muon-to-electron conversion process. We report the design of the experimental facility and its construction status.

CERN-MEDICIS: A Review Since Commissioning in 2017.

The CERN-MEDICIS (MEDical Isotopes Collected from ISolde) facility has delivered its first radioactive ion beam at CERN (Switzerland) in December 2017 to support the research and development in nuclear medicine using non-conventional radionuclides. Since then, fourteen institutes, including CERN, have joined the collaboration to drive the scientific program of this unique installation and evaluate the needs of the community to improve the research in imaging, diagnostics, radiation therapy and personalized medicine. The facility has been built as an extension of the ISOLDE (Isotope Separator On Line DEvice) facility at CERN. Handling of open radioisotope sources is made possible thanks to its Radiological Controlled Area and laboratory. Targets are being irradiated by the 1.4 GeV proton beam delivered by the CERN Proton Synchrotron Booster (PSB) on a station placed between the High Resolution Separator (HRS) ISOLDE target station and its beam dump. Irradiated target materials are also received from external institutes to undergo mass separation at CERN-MEDICIS. All targets are handled via a remote handling system and exploited on a dedicated isotope separator beamline. To allow for the release and collection of a specific radionuclide of medical interest, each target is heated to temperatures of up to 2,300°C. The created ions are extracted and accelerated to an energy up to 60 kV, and the beam steered through an off-line sector field magnet mass separator. This is followed by the extraction of the radionuclide of interest through mass separation and its subsequent implantation into a collection foil. In addition, the MELISSA (MEDICIS Laser Ion Source Setup At CERN) laser laboratory, in service since April 2019, helps to increase the separation efficiency and the selectivity. After collection, the implanted radionuclides are dispatched to the biomedical research centers, participating in the CERN-MEDICIS collaboration, for Research & Development in imaging or treatment. Since its commissioning, the CERN-MEDICIS facility has provided its partner institutes with non-conventional medical radionuclides such as Tb-149, Tb-152, Tb-155, Sm-153, Tm-165, Tm-167, Er-169, Yb-175, and Ac-225 with a high specific activity. This article provides a review of the achievements and milestones of CERN-MEDICIS since it has produced its first radioactive isotope in December 2017, with a special focus on its most recent operation in 2020.

Test beam characterization of sensor prototypes for the CMS Barrel MIP Timing Detector

The MIP Timing Detector will provide additional timing capabilities for detection of minimum ionizing particles (MIPs) at CMS during the High Luminosity LHC era, improving event reconstruction and pileup rejection. The central portion of the detector, the Barrel Timing Layer (BTL), will be instrumented with LYSO:Ce crystals and Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) providing a time resolution of about 30 ps at the beginning of operation, and degrading to 50-60 ps at the end of the detector lifetime as a result of radiation damage. In this work, we present the results obtained using a 120 GeV proton beam at the Fermilab Test Beam Facility to measure the time resolution of unirradiated sensors. A proof-of-concept of the sensor layout proposed for the barrel region of the MTD, consisting of elongated crystal bars with dimensions of about 3×3×57 mm3 and with double-ended SiPM readout, is demonstrated. This design provides a robust time measurement independent of the impact point of the MIP along the crystal bar. We tested LYSO:Ce bars of different thickness (2, 3, 4 mm) with a geometry close to the reference design and coupled to SiPMs manufactured by Hamamatsu and Fondazione Bruno Kessler. The various aspects influencing the timing performance such as the crystal thickness, properties of the SiPMs (e.g. photon detection efficiency), and impact angle of the MIP are studied.A time resolution of about 28 ps is measured for MIPs crossing a 3 mm thick crystal bar, corresponding to a most probable value (MPV) of energy deposition of 2.6 MeV, and of 22 ps for the 4.2 MeV MPV energy deposition expected in the BTL, matching the detector performance target for unirradiated devices.

Picosecond timing resolution measurements of low gain avalanche detectors with a 120 GeV proton beam for the TOPSiDE detector concept

This paper presents results that take a critical step toward proving 10 ps timing resolution's feasibility for particle identification in the TOPSiDE detector concept for the Electron-Ion Collider. Measurements of LGADs with a thickness of 35 μm and 50 μm are evaluated with a 120 GeV proton beam. The performance of the gain and timing response is assessed, including the dependence on the reverse bias voltage and operating temperature. The best timing resolution of UFSDs in a test beam to date is achieved using three combined planes of 35 μm thick LGADs at -30°C with a precision of 14.3 ± 1.5 ps.

High-quality GeV proton beam generation from multiple-laser interaction with double-layer target

A scheme for significantly enhancing the beam quality of laser-driven proton acceleration is proposed and investigated with particle-in-cell simulation: two linearly polarized Gaussian laser pulses obliquely irradiate a double-layer target that acquires a periodic surface structure that reduces the reflection, improves the focusing, and enhances the energy coupling of the third, or main, laser pulse that follows. The oblique pulses also provide some initial kinetic energy to the initially static target electrons and thus protons, which is very crucial for efficient acceleration. As a result, a proton beam of 1.15 GeV peak energy, very low energy spread ∼4%, and small divergence angle ∼5° can be obtained with laser intensities of 1021 W cm−2, which is significantly lower than that of the other recently proposed schemes.