No Arabic abstract
This paper discusses the effects of radiation damage to SiPMs on the performances of plastic scintillator counters with series-connected SiPM readout, focusing on timing measurements. The performances of a counter composed of a $120 times 40 times5~mathrm{mm}^3$ scintillator tile read out by two sets of six SiPMs from AdvanSiD connected in series attached on the short sides are presented, for different combinations of SiPMs at various levels of irradiation. Firstly, six SiPMs were equally irradiated with electrons from $^{90}$Sr sources up to a fluence of $Phi_mathrm{e^-}approx 3 times 10^{12}~mathrm{cm}^{-2}$. The timing resolution of the counter gradually deteriorated by the increase in dark current. The dark current and the deterioration were reduced when the counter was cooled from 30$^circ$C to 10$^circ$C. Secondly, 33 SiPMs were irradiated with reactor neutrons. The characteristics of counters read out by series-connected SiPMs with non-uniform damage levels, were investigated. The signal pulse height, the time response, and the timing resolution depend on the hit position in the counter, when SiPMs irradiation is not uniform.
Prototype SiPMs with 4384 pixels of dimensions $15 times 15~mu $m$^2$ produced by KETEK have been irradiated with reactor neutrons to eight fluences between $10^9$ and $5times 10^{14}$ cm$^{-2}$. For temperatures between $-30~^circ $C and $+30~^circ $C capacitance-voltage, admittance-frequency, current-forward voltage, current-reverse voltage and charge-voltage measurements with and without illumination by a sub-nanosecond laser have been performed. The data have been analysed using different methods in order to extract the dependence on neutron fluence and temperature of the electrical parameters, the breakdown oltage, the activation energy for the current generation, the dark-count rate and the response to light pulses. The results from the different analysis methods are compared.
High-time-resolution counters based on plastic scintillator with silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) readout have been developed for applications to high energy physics experiments for which relatively large-sized counters are required. We have studied counter sizes up to $120times40times5$ mm^3 with series connection of multiple SiPMs to increase the sensitive area and thus achieve better time resolution. A readout scheme with analog shaping and digital waveform analysis is optimized to achieve the highest time resolution. The timing performance is measured using electrons from a Sr-90 radioactive source, comparing different scintillators, counter dimensions, and types of near-ultraviolet sensitive SiPMs. As a result, a resolution of $sigma =42 pm 2$ ps at 1 MeV energy deposition is obtained for counter size $60times 30 times 5$ mm^3 with three SiPMs ($3times3$ mm^2 each) at each end of the scintillator. The time resolution improves with the number of photons detected by the SiPMs. The SiPMs from Hamamatsu Photonics give the best time resolution because of their high photon detection efficiency in the near-ultraviolet region. Further improvement is possible by increasing the number of SiPMs attached to the scintillator.
The characterisation of radiation-damaged SiPMs is a major challenge, when the average time between dark counts approaches, or even exceeds, the signal decay time. In this note a collection of formulae is presented, which have been developed and used for the analysis of current measurements for SiPMs in the dark and illuminated by an LED, before and after hadron irradiation. It is shown, how parameters like the breakdown voltage, the quenching resistance, the dark-count rate, the reduction of the photo-detection efficiency due to dark counts and the Geiger discharge probability can be estimated from current-voltage measurements. The only additional SiPM parameters needed are the pixel capacitance, the number of pixels and the correlated noise. Central to the method is the concept of the pixel occupancy, the probability of a Geiger discharge in a single pixel during a given time interval, for which the decay time of the SiPM signal has been assumed. As an illustration the formulae are used to characterise a KETEK SiPM before and after irradiation by a fluence of 5E13 cm$^{-2}$ of reactor neutrons for temperatures of -30{deg}C and +20{deg}C, where dark-count rates exceeding 1E11 Hz are observed.
A plastic scintillator bar with dimensions 300 cm x 2.5 cm x 11 cm was exposed to a focused muon beam to study its light yield and timing characteristics as a function of position and angle of incidence. The scintillating light was read out at both ends by photomultiplier tubes whose pulse shapes were recorded by waveform digitizers. Results obtained with the WAVECATCHER and SAMPIC digitizers are analyzed and compared. A discussion of the various factors affecting the timing resolution is presented. Prospects for applications of plastic scintillator technology in large-scale particle physics detectors with timing resolution around 100 ps are provided in light of the results.
We present a novel concept of proportional gas amplification for the read-out of the spherical proportional counter. The standard single-ball read-out presents limitations for large diameter spherical detectors and high pressure operations. We have developed a multi-ball read-out system which consists of several balls sitting at a fixed distance from the center of the spherical vessel. Such a module can tune the volume electric field at the desired value and can also provide detector segmentation with individual ball read-out. In the latter case the large volume of the vessel becomes a spherical time projection chamber with 3D capabilities.