The use of a nonhomogeneous aerogel radiator, i.e. one consisting of layers with different refractive indices, has been shown to improve the resolution of the Cherenkov angle measured with a proximity focusing RICH detector. In order to obtain further information on the performance of such a detector, a simple model has been used to calculate the resolution and search for optimal radiator parameters.
A proximity focusing ring imaging Cherenkov detector, with the radiator consisting of two or more aerogel layers of different refractive indices, has been tested in 1-4 GeV/c pion beams at KEK. Essentially, a multiple refractive index aerogel radiator allows for an increase in Cherenkov photon yield on account of the increase in overall radiator thickness, while avoiding the simultaneous degradation in single photon angular resolution associated with the increased uncertainty of the emission point. With the refractive index of consecutive layers suitably increasing in the downstream direction, one may achieve overlapping of the Cherenkov rings from a single charged particle. In the opposite case of decreasing refractive index, one may obtain well separated rings. In the former combination an approximately 40% increase in photon yield is accompanied with just a minor degradation in single photon angular resolution. The impact of this improvement on the pion/kaon separation at the upgraded Belle detector is discussed.
Using aerogel as radiator and multianode PMTs for photon detection, a proximity focusing Cherenkov ring imaging detector has been constructed and tested in the KEK $pi$2 beam. The aim is to experimentally study the basic parameters such as resolution of the single photon Cherenkov angle and number of detected photons per ring. The resolution obtained is well approximated by estimates of contributions from pixel size and emission point uncertainty. The number of detected photons per Cherenkov ring is in good agreement with estimates based on aerogel and detector characteristics. The values obtained turn out to be rather low, mainly due to Rayleigh scattering and to the relatively large dead space between the photocathodes. A light collection system or a higher fraction of the photomultiplier active area, together with better quality aerogels are expected to improve the situation. The reduction of Cherenkov yield, for charged particle impact in the vicinity of the aerogel tile side wall, has also been measured.
A proximity focusing ring imaging Cherenkov detector using aerogel as the radiator has been studied for an upgrade of the Belle detector at the KEK-B-factory. We constructed a prototype Cherenkov counter using a 4 x 4 array of 64-channel flat-panel multi-anode PMTs (Hamamatsu H8500) with a large effective area. The aerogel samples were made with a new technique to obtain a higher transmission length at a high refractive index (n=1.05). Multi-channel PMTs are read-out with analog memory chips. The detector was tested at the KEK-PS pi2 beam line in November, 2002. To evaluate systematically the performance of the detector, tests were carried out with various aerogel samples using pion beams with momenta between 0.5 GeV/c and 4 GeV/c. The typical angular resolution was around 14 mrad, and the average number of detected photoelectrons was around 6. We expect that pions and kaons can be separated at a 4 sigma level at 4 GeV/c.
This paper reports the successful fabrication of silica aerogel Cherenkov radiators produced in the first batches from a 96-tile mass production performed using pin-drying technique in our laboratory. The aerogels are to be used in a ring-imaging Cherenkov detector in the spectrometer of a planned balloon-borne cosmic-ray observation program, HELIX (High Energy Light Isotope eXperiment). A total of 36 transparent, hydrophobic aerogel tiles with a high refractive index of 1.16 and dimensions of 10 cm $times $ 10 cm $times $ 1 cm will be chosen as the flight radiators. Thus far, 40 out of the 48 tiles fabricated were confirmed as having no tile cracking. In the first screening, 8 out of the first 16 tiles were accepted as flight-qualified candidates, based on basic optical measurement results. To fit the aerogel tiles into a radiator support structure, the trimming of previously manufactured prototype tiles using a water-jet cutting device was successful.
A large area ring-imaging Cherenkov detector has been designed to provide clean hadron identification capability in the momentum range from 3 GeV/c up to 8 GeV/c for the CLAS12 experiments at the upgraded 12 GeV continuous electron beam accelerator facility of Jefferson Laboratory. The adopted solution foresees a novel hybrid optics design based on aerogel radiator, composite mirrors and high-packed and high-segmented photon detectors. Cherenkov light will either be imaged directly (forward tracks) or after two mirror reflections (large angle tracks). We report here the results of the tests of a large scale prototype of the RICH detector performed with the hadron beam of the CERN T9 experimental hall for the direct detection configuration. The tests demonstrated that the proposed design provides the required pion-to-kaon rejection factor of 1:500 in the whole momentum range.