No Arabic abstract
The T2K neutrino experiment at J-PARC uses a set of near detectors to measure the properties of an unoscillated neutrino beam and neutrino interaction cross-sections. One of the sub-detectors of the near-detector complex, the side muon range detector (SMRD), is described in the paper. The detector is designed to help measure the neutrino energy spectrum, to identify background and to calibrate the other detectors. The active elements of the SMRD consist of 0.7 cm thick extruded scintillator slabs inserted into air gaps of the UA1 magnet yokes. The readout of each scintillator slab is provided through a single WLS fiber embedded into a serpentine shaped groove. Two Hamamatsu multi-pixel avalanche photodiodes (MPPCs) are coupled to both ends of the WLS fiber. This design allows us to achieve a high MIP detection efficiency of greater than 99%. A light yield of 25-50 p.e./MIP, a time resolution of about 1 ns and a spatial resolution along the slab better than 10 cm were obtained for the SMRD counters.
The T2K experiment is a long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment aiming to observe the appearance of { u} e in a { u}{mu} beam. The { u}{mu} beam is produced at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC), observed with the 295 km distant Super- Kamiokande Detector and monitored by a suite of near detectors at 280m from the proton target. The near detectors include a magnetized off-axis detector (ND280) which measures the un-oscillated neutrino flux and neutrino cross sections. The present paper describes the outermost component of ND280 which is a side muon range detector (SMRD) composed of scintillation counters with embedded wavelength shifting fibers and Multi-Pixel Photon Counter read-out. The components, performance and response of the SMRD are presented.
The performance of scintillator counters with embedded wavelength-shifting fibers has been measured in the Fermilab Meson Test Beam Facility using 120 GeV protons. The counters were extruded with a titanium dioxide surface coating and two channels for fibers at the Fermilab NICADD facility. Each fiber end is read out by a 2*2 mm^2 silicon photomultiplier. The signals were amplified and digitized by a custom-made front-end electronics board. Combinations of 5*2 cm^2 and 6*2 cm^2 extrusion profiles with 1.4 and 1.8 mm diameter fibers were tested. The design is intended for the cosmic-ray veto detector for the Mu2e experiment at Fermilab. The light yield as a function of the transverse and longitudinal position of the beam will be given.
We constructed a gamma-ray detector by combining two types of scintillator array detectors with an MPPC array and evaluated the spectral performance by reading out the signals from the MPPC with a low-power integrated circuit (ASIC) manufactured by IDEAS in Norway. One of the two types of scintillators is a GAGG(Ce) (Ce-doped $ rm{Gd_3Al_2Ga_3O_{12}}$) scintillator, and the other is an LFS scintillator. The scintillator array is 2.5 cm $times$ 2.5 cm in size and is coated with $ rm{BaSO_4}$-based white paint for GAGG(Ce) and an enhanced specular reflector (ESR) for LFS except for the side optically coupled to the MPPC. The spectra derived from the array are affected by the MPPC photon saturations and light leakage from the adjacent pixels, and we carefully corrected for both effects in our data analysis. The energy resolution of 662 keV at 20 $^circ$C is 6.10$pm$0.04% for the GAGG(Ce) scintillator array and 8.57$pm$0.15% for the LFS scintillator array, this is equivalent to the typical energy resolution found in the references. The energy resolution depends on the temperature: the energy resolution improves as the temperature decreases. We found that the contribution of thermal noise from the MPPCs to the energy resolution is negligible within the range of --20 to 40 $^circ$C, and the energy resolution is mainly determined by the light yield of the crystals.
A new muon and K_Long detector based on scintillators will be used for the endcap and inner barrel regions in the Belle II experiment, currently under construction. The increased luminosity of the e+e- SuperKEKB collider entails challenging detector requirements. We demonstrate that relatively inexpensive polystyrene scintillator stips with wave length shifting fibers ensure a sufficient light yield at the Silcon PhotoMultiplier (SiPM) photodetector, are robust and provide improved physics performance for the Belle II experiment compared to its predecessor, Belle.
In the T2K near neutrino detectors, about 60 000 Hamamatsu Multi-Pixel Photon Counters (MPPCs) will be used. The mass production of MPPC has started in February 2008.In order to perform quality assurance and to characterize each device, we have developed an MPPC test system. For each MPPC, gain, breakdown voltage, noise rate, photo detection efficiency, and cross-talk and after-pulse rate are measured as functions of the bias voltage and temperature. The design of the test system and the measurement procedure are described.