Silicon Photomultiplier Readout Research Articles

Characterisation of plastic scintillator paddles and lightweight MWPCs for the MID subsystem of ALICE 3

The ALICE collaboration is proposing a completely new detector, ALICE 3, for operation during the LHC Runs 5 and 6. One of the ALICE 3 subsystems is the Muon IDentifier detector (MID), which has to be optimised to be efficient for the reconstruction of J/ψ at rest (muons down to p T ≈ 1.5 GeV/c) for |η| < 1.3. Given the modest particle flux expected in the MID of a few Hz/cm2, technologies like plastic scintillator bars (≈ 1 m length) equipped with wavelength-shifting fibers and silicon photomultiplier readout, and lightweight Multi-Wire Proportional Chambers (MWPCs) are under investigation. To this end, different plastic scintillator paddles and MWPCs were studied at the CERN T10 test beam facility. This paper reports on the performance of the scintillator prototypes tested at different beam momenta (from 0.5 GeV/c up to 6 GeV/c) and positions (horizontal, vertical, and angular scans). The MWPCs were tested at different momenta (from 0.5 GeV/c to 10 GeV/c) and beam intensities, their efficiency and position resolutions were verified beyond the particle rates expected with the MID in ALICE 3.

Low-power SiPM readout BETA ASIC for space applications

The BETA application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) is a fully programmable chip designed to amplify, shape and digitize the signal of up to 64 Silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) channels, with a power consumption of approximately ∼\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\sim$$\\end{document}1 mW/channel. Owing to its dual-path gain, the BETA chip is capable of resolving single photoelectrons (phes) with a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) >5 while simultaneously achieving a dynamic range of ∼\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\sim$$\\end{document}4000 phes. Thus, BETA can provide a cost-effective solution for the readout of SiPMs in space missions and other applications with a maximum rate below 10 kHz. In this study, we describe the key characteristics of the BETA ASIC and present an evaluation of the performance of its 16-channel version, which is implemented using 130 nm technology. The ASIC also contains two discriminators that can provide trigger signals with a time jitter down to 400 ps FWHM for 10 phes. The linearity error of the charge gain measurement was less than 2% for a dynamic range as large as 15 bits.

One-dimensional position-sensitive detector for alpha particles using an outer-layer scintillating fiber

For applications of detecting alpha contamination and identifying its location over a wide area at a time in nuclear plants and radiation facilities, a position-sensitive detector for α-rays based on an outer-layer scintillating (OLS) fiber with silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) readout was developed. While a standard scintillating fiber is unable to detect α-rays due to their short range, the OLS fiber has a thin scintillation layer on its surface that enhances its potential for α-ray measurements. We initially performed measurements using an Am-241 source to compare the α-ray-detection capability of the OLS fiber with that of a conventional scintillating fiber. Subsequently, a position-sensitive detector employing the time-difference method was developed to measure the radiation distribution along the fiber in a one-dimensional format. The time and spatial resolutions of the measurement system, which used a single 2.2-m-long fiber, were estimated to be approximately 3.6 ns and 290 mm full width at half maximum (FWHM), respectively. Results from two Am-241 sources placed simultaneously indicated that the resolving capability to distinguish the two sources of the measurement system was <300 mm.

Simulation study of the light collection efficiency and the dependency on position resolution in plastic scintillator-based muography detectors

Cosmic-ray muon imaging (muography) has been applied in various fields in recent years, in which plastic scintillators are one of the frequently selected detectors internationally. Therefore, a triangular scintillator strip based muography detection system has been proposed in the development of the μ Scattering and Transmission imaging faCility (μSTC). Before the mass production of detector units, this work studied the impacts of multiple factors on the light collection efficiency (LCE) and the position resolution (σ) of plastic scintillators. These factors include configurations of wavelength shifting (WLS) fibers, fiber grooves on scintillators, coupling optical glues and silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) readout mode. According to the simulated results, an empirical formula was proposed to quantitatively describe the relation between the LCE and σ, which has seldom been studied before. In this formula, σ reduces as a power-law function of the LCE. The SiPM readout mode (single-end or double-end output) and fiber groove treatments show no significant influence on the σ-LCE relation. LCE variations due to different factors lead to a difference in σ of less than 0.2 mm in the whole range of LCE. Accordingly, these factors are nearly equivalent in the improvement of detector position resolution. In comparison, the muon hit position reconstruction method nearly halves the σ after using angular and gap corrections. Thus, a better reconstruction method shows greater importance than the efforts made to increase LCEs. The simulation study in this work will provide good references for the construction of plastic scintillators of the μSTC platform in the near future.

Design optimization of plastic scintillators with wavelength-shifting fibers and silicon photomultiplier readouts in the top veto tracker of the JUNO-TAO experiment

Design optimization of plastic scintillators with wavelength-shifting fibers and silicon photomultiplier readouts in the top veto tracker of the JUNO-TAO experiment

Performance optimization of the scintillator neutron detectors for EMD in CSNS

Abstract Chinese Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS) has successfully produced its first neutron beam in 28th August 2017. It has been running steadily from March, 2018. According to the construction plan, the Engineering Materials diffractometer (EMD) will be installed between 2019- 2023. This instrument requires the neutron detectors with the cover area near 3m2 in two 90° neutron diffraction angle position, the neutron detect efficiency better than 40%@1Å, and the spatial resolution better than 4mm×200mm in horizontal and vertical directions respectively. We have developed an one-dimensional position sensitive neutron detector based on the oblique 6LiF/ZnS(Ag) scintillators, wavelength shifting fibers and SiPMs (Silicon Photomultipliers) readout. The inhomogeneity of the neutron detection efficiency between each pixel and each detector module, which caused by the inconsistency of the wave-length shifting fibers in collecting scintillation photons, need to be mitigated before the installation. A performance optimization experiment of the detector modules was carried out on the BL20 (Beam Line 20) of CSNS. Using water sample, the neutron beam with Φ5mm exit hole was dispersed relate evenly into the forward space. According to the neutron counts of each pixel of the detector module, the readout electronics threshold of each pixel is adjusted. Compared with the unadjusted detector module, the inhomogeneity of the detection efficiency for the adjusted one is improved from 69% to 90%. The test result of the diffraction peak of the standard sample Si showed that the adjusted detector module works well.

On-Chip Fast Signal Generation and Low-Power SAR ADC for SiPM Readout

This article presents an ON-chip fast signal generator and a successive-approximation-register (SAR) analog-to-digital data converter (ADC) for silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) readout applications. The high-pass filter (HPF)-based fast-signal generator sharpens the rising edge of the standard SiPM output signal reducing time jitter due to the dark counts of the detector. It is implemented by leveraging the equivalent resistance of the current mirror transistor and the ac-coupling capacitor between the current mirror and the current discriminator to avoid hardware and power consumption overhead. Compared with OFF-chip solutions, the ON-chip approach eliminates the packaging pins and high-speed buffers needed for carrying the fast signals reducing packaging complexity and power consumption of the readout system. The energy quantizer utilizes the SiPM charge integrator as the ADC track-and-hold (T/H) circuit to improve the front-end power efficiency. The fast signal generator and the SAR ADC are implemented in a current-mode application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designed in a 0.18- <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> CMOS technology. Measurement results show that the ON-chip fast signal generator is effective in improving the timing performance of the readout system. The timing resolutions are measured using SensL’s <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$3\times $ </tex-math></inline-formula> 3 mm2 SiPM device with a terminal capacitance of 850 pF using an ultrashort laser pulser. Measurement results show that the fast signal generator improves the timing resolution by 23.4% compared with timing measurement using the standard output signal when the output charge is 300 pC. The ASIC achieved a measured ADC signal-to-noise-distortion ratio (SNDR) of 53.08 dB and a spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR) of 62.74 dB at 1 MS/s and a maximum front-end gain nonlinearity of 3.3% over 20–800-pC input charge range while dissipating 4.1 mW of power from a 1.8-V supply.

Crilin: A CRystal calorImeter with Longitudinal InformatioN for a future Muon Collider

Detectors for new energy frontier experiments require excellent spatial, time, and energy resolutions to resolve the structure of collimated high-energy jets. In a future Muon Collider, the beam-induced backgrounds represent the main challenge for detector design and event reconstruction. Our proposal - Crilin - consists in a semi-homogeneous Cherenkov electromagnetic calorimeter based on P b F 2 crystals with surface-mount UV-extended Silicon Photomultipliers readout.

Test beam results of the fiber-sampling dual-readout calorimeter

The dual-readout calorimetric technique reconstructs the event-by-event electromagnetic fraction of the hadronic shower through the simultaneous measurement of scintillating (S) and Cherenkov (C) light produced by the shower development. The new generation of prototypes, based on Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) readout, adds unprecedented granularity to the well-known high-energy resolution. A highly granular prototype (10×10×100cm3), designed to fully contain electromagnetic showers, was recently built and qualified on beam. It consists of 9 modules, each made of 320 brass capillaries equipped with both scintillating and clear fibers. All the fibers of the central module are coupled with SiPMs, while the PMTs are used for the others. Furthermore, the new FERS-System, designed by Caen to exploit the CITIROC1A ASICs performances, is at the core of the SiPM readout.The recent test beam at DESY allowed us to qualify the readout system and define a procedure to calibrate the SiPM response from ADC to ph-e in a wide dynamic range. We measured the number of ph-e per GeV for scintillating and Cherenkov light together with the calorimetric performances in the energy range of 1–6 GeV. This work reports the system qualification and the test beam results regarding SiPM calibration.

A compact, light scintillating fiber tracker with SiPM readout

We present the concept of a novel compact and light tracker based on arrays of plastic scintillating fibers readout with Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs). The tracker will be composed of multiple planes, with the fibers in each plane oriented perpendicularly to those in the adjacent planes. Each plane will consist of two staggered layers of fibers, having a round cross section with 500 μm diameter and arranged in a close packed configuration. Scintillation photons produced in the fibers will be collected by SiPM arrays with 250 μm strip pitch located at one end of the fibers. This configuration will ensure an accurate spatial resolution and a fast response, while keeping a reduced material budget. Hence, this detector will be suitable to track low energy particles and will be able to efficiently detect the Compton scattered electrons produced by gamma rays with energies down to 100 keV. We built a reduced scale tracker prototype, using Hamamatsu 128 channel SiPM arrays and 32 channel PETIROC2A front end ASICs readout. The latter are controlled by a custom data acquisition board with self triggering capabilities. We tested this prototype with cosmic rays, radioactive sources and accelerated particle beams.

Crilin: A Semi-Homogeneous Calorimeter for a Future Muon Collider

Calorimeters, as other detectors, have to face the increasing performance demands of the new energy frontier experiments. For a future Muon Collider the main challenge is given by the Beam Induced Background that may pose limitations to the physics performance. However, it is possible to reduce the BIB impact by exploiting some of its characteristics by ensuring high granularity, excellent timing, longitudinal segmentation and good energy resolution. The proposed design, the Crilin calorimeter, is an alternative semi-homogeneous ECAL barrel for the Muon Collider based on Lead Fluoride Crystals (PbF2) with a surface-mount UV-extended Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) readout with an optimized design for a future Muon Collider.

Low power implementation of high frequency SiPM readout for Cherenkov and scintillation detectors in TOF-PET

State-of-the-art (SoA) electronic readout for silicon photomultiplier (SiPM)-based scintillation detectors that demonstrate experimental limits in achievable coincidence time resolution (CTR) leverage low noise, high frequency signal processing to facilitate a single photon time response that is near the limit of the SiPMs architecture. This readout strategy can optimally exploit fast luminescence and prompt photon populations, and promising measurements show detector concepts employing this readout can greatly advance PET detector CTR, relative to SoA in clinical systems. However, the technique employs power hungry components which make the electronics chain impractical for channel-dense time-of-flight (TOF)-PET detectors. We have developed and tested a low noise and high frequency readout circuit which is performant at low power and consists of discrete elements with small footprints, making it feasible for integration into TOF-PET detector prototypes. A 3 × 3 mm2 Broadcom SiPM with this readout chain exhibited sub-100 ps single photon time resolution at 10 mW of power consumption, with a relatively minor performance degradation to 120 ± 2 ps FWHM at 5 mW. CTR measurements with 3 × 3 × 20 mm3 LYSO and fast LGSO scintillators demonstrated 127 ± 3 ps and 113 ± 2 ps FWHM at optimal power operation and 133 ± 2 ps and 121 ± 3 ps CTR at 5 mW. BGO crystals 3 × 3 × 20 mm3 in size show 271 ± 5 ps FWHM CTR (1174 ± 14 ps full-width-at-tenth-maximum (FWTM)) at optimal power dissipation and 289 ± 8 ps (1296 ± 33 ps FWTM) at 5 mW. The compact and low power readout topology that achieves this performance thereby offers a platform to greatly advance PET system CTR and also opportunities to provide high performance TOF-PET at reduced material cost.

A novel silicon photomultiplier readout architecture for low-light applications[This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contractDE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). TheU.S. government retains and the publisher, by accepting the articlefor publication, acknowledges that the U.S. government retains acnonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish orreproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to

In this article we describe the photon detection readout electronics for the nEDM@SNS experiment. The chosen “photon counting” architecture, which utilizes high-efficiency silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) and is appropriate for low-light applications, allows the use of a relatively high SiPM operating voltage. This maximizes photon detection efficiency and minimizes gain/efficiency voltage-dependence while eliminating direct optical cross-talk.

A light tracker based on scintillating fibers with SiPM readout

We have developed a novel light tracker based on plastic scintillating fiber arrays readout with Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs). The tracker consists of multiple planes, with the fibers in each plane oriented perpendicularly to those in the adjacent plane, in order to allow 3D track reconstruction. The fibers in each plane have round cross sections, with a diameter of 500μm, and are arranged in two staggered layers in a close-packed configuration. The fibers are readout by means of SiPM arrays with a 250μm strip pitch placed at one of their ends. Scintillating fibers allow a reduced material budget while providing a good spatial resolution and a fast response. This design is therefore suitable to track low-energy particles, such as the lowest energy cosmic rays or the electrons produced in Compton scatterings of gamma rays with energies down to 100 keV. We have built a detector prototype, equipped with Hamamatsu 128-channel SiPM arrays, readout with 32-channel PETIROC2A front-end ASICs. These ASICs are controlled by a custom data acquisition system board equipped with Xilinx Kintex-7 FPGA with self-triggering capabilities. The prototype has been tested with particle beams, cosmic rays and radioactive sources. The tracker design will be presented and performance of the prototype will be discussed.

Scintillation detectors with silicon photomultiplier readout in a dilution refrigerator at temperatures down to 0.2 K

We are developing a novel high-brightness atomic beam, comprised of a two-body exotic atom called muonium (M = μ + + e -), for next-generation atomic physics and gravitational interaction measurements. This M source originates from a thin sheet of superfluid helium (SFHe), hence diagnostics and later measurements require a detection system which is operational in a dilution cryostat at temperatures below 1 K. In this paper, we describe the operation and characterization of silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) at ultra-low temperatures in SFHe targets. We show the temperature dependence of the signal shape, breakdown voltage, and single photon detection efficiency, concluding that single photon detection with SiPMs below 0.85 K is feasible. Furthermore, we show the development of segmented scintillation detectors, where 16 channels at 1.7 K and one channel at 170 mK were commissioned using a muon beam.

Novel Detector Assembly for Neutron/Gamma-Ray Discrimination Applications Based on Large-Sized Scintillators Coupled to Large Area SiPM Arrays

In this work, we propose a prototype of a compact detector assembly capable of discriminating between neutrons and gamma rays, by performing pulse shape analysis. The device takes advantage of recent improvements in silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) technology and the excellent neutron/gamma-ray discrimination capabilities of new plastics and standard liquid scintillators. Our work is focused on the read-out of small-, medium-, and large-sized organic scintillators with large-area SiPM arrays ( <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$4 \times 4$ </tex-math></inline-formula> NUV and RGB-SiPM arrays, 17 mm <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\times$ </tex-math></inline-formula> 17 mm). In particular, we used EJ-276 (and its old version EJ-299) and EJ-276G plastic scintillators of several sizes (ranging from 20- to 50-mm diameter) and two large liquid scintillator cells (EJ-301 and EJ-309, 50 mm diameter <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\times 50$ </tex-math></inline-formula> mm thickness). Moreover, we show the comparison of neutron/gamma-ray discrimination performance between SiPM and standard photomultiplier read-out configurations. The presented innovative device could be used in different fields, first in fundamental nuclear physics experiments, as an ancillary neutron detector for the active target at the selective production of exotic species (SPES) facility at the Legnaro National Laboratories in Italy. Additionally, it could be used in radiation monitoring applications, as a fast neutron/gamma-ray counter to be embedded in unmanned vehicles for radiation monitoring.

Scintillation characteristics of a NaI(Tl) crystal at low-temperature with silicon photomultiplier

The scintillation characteristics of a thallium-doped sodium iodide (NaI(Tl)) crystal with dimensions of 0.6 cm× 0.6 cm× 2 cm were studied by attaching a silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) directly to the crystal over a temperature range of 93–300 K. The scintillation light output and decay time were measured by irradiating 59.54 keV γ-rays with a 241Am source. We observed an approximately 20% increase in the light yield at 230 K compared with that at room temperature. Under these conditions, NaI(Tl) crystals with SiPM readout can be suitable for future dark matter search detectors.

Performance of scintillating tiles with direct silicon-photomultiplier (SiPM) readout for application to large area detectors

The light yield, the time resolution and the efficiency of different types of scintillating tiles with direct Silicon Photomultiplier readout and instrumented with a customised front-end electronics have been measured at the Beam Test Facility of Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati and several test stands. The results obtained on minimum ionising particles with different detector configurations are presented. A time resolution of the order of 300 ps, a light yield of more than 230 photo-electrons, and an efficiency better than 99.8% are obtained with ∼ 225 cm2 large area tiles. This technology is suitable for a wide range of applications in high-energy physics, in particular for large area muon and timing detectors.

Convolution-based frequency domain multiplexing of SiPM readouts using the DRS4 digitizer

We present 4:1 multiplexing of organic scintillators, each coupled to a silicon photomultiplier (SiPM), to reduce the need for a large number of digitizer input channels to readout highly pixelated radiation detection systems. Frequency domain multiplexing (FDM) encodes a detector pulse by assigning it a unique frequency via convolution before combining the encoded signal into a single channel. The combined signal is then read through a digitizer input channel. We have designed an FDM system to multiplex four SiPMs using DRS4 digitizer evaluation board from Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI). We demonstrate 4:1 multiplexing of the SiPM fast output signals and pulse recovery from the digitized multiplexed signal using deconvolution. The noise in the recovered pulse introduces a bias and uncertainty in the estimate of energy and timing that changes with pulse height. The relative uncertainty in the estimated energy from the recovered pulse decreases with pulse height with a maximum uncertainty of 3.1% for the low energy pulses (corresponding to 100 keV); the uncertainty in the estimated time pick-off also decreases with pulse height with a maximum uncertainty of 110 ps for the low energy pulses.

Performance of the ReD TPC, a novel double-phase LAr detector with silicon photomultiplier readout

A double-phase argon Time Projection Chamber (TPC), with an active mass of 185 g, has been designed and constructed for the Recoil Directionality (ReD) experiment. The aim of the ReD project is to investigate the directional sensitivity of argon-based TPCs via columnar recombination to nuclear recoils in the energy range of interest (20–200,hbox {keV}_{nr}) for direct dark matter searches. The key novel feature of the ReD TPC is a readout system based on cryogenic Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs), which are employed and operated continuously for the first time in an argon TPC. Over the course of 6 months, the ReD TPC was commissioned and characterised under various operating conditions using gamma -ray and neutron sources, demonstrating remarkable stability of the optical sensors and reproducibility of the results. The scintillation gain and ionisation amplification of the TPC were measured to be g_1 = (0.194 pm 0.013) photoelectrons/photon and g_2 = (20.0 pm 0.9) photoelectrons/electron, respectively. The ratio of the ionisation to scintillation signals (S2/S1), instrumental for the positive identification of a candidate directional signal induced by WIMPs, has been investigated for both nuclear and electron recoils. At a drift field of 183 V/cm, an S2/S1 dispersion of 12% was measured for nuclear recoils of approximately 60–90,hbox {keV}_{nr}, as compared to 18% for electron recoils depositing 60 keV of energy. The detector performance reported here meets the requirements needed to achieve the principal scientific goals of the ReD experiment in the search for a directional effect due to columnar recombination. A phenomenological parameterisation of the recombination probability in LAr is presented and employed for modeling the dependence of scintillation quenching and charge yield on the drift field for electron recoils between 50–500 keV and fields up to 1000 V/cm.