AGATA Collaboration, Domingo-Pardo, C., Bazzacco, D., Doornenbal, P., Farnea, E., Gadea, A., et al. (2012). Conceptual design and performance study for the first implementation of AGATA at the in-flight RIB facility of GSI. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 694, 297–312.
Abstract: The main objective of the Advanced GAmma Tracking Array (AGATA) is the investigation of the structure of exotic nuclei at the new generation of RIB facilities. As part of the preparatory phase for FAIR-NUSTAR, AGATA is going to be installed at the FRS fragmentation facility of the GSI centre for an experimental campaign to be performed in 2012 and 2013. Owing to its gamma-ray tracking capabilities and the envisaged enhancement in resolving power, a series of in-flight gamma-ray spectroscopy experiments are being planned. The present work describes the conceptual design of this first implementation of AGATA at GSI-FRS, and provides information about the expected performance figures. According to the characteristics of each particular experiment, it is foreseen that the target-array distance is adjusted in order to achieve the optimum compromise between detection efficiency and energy resolution, or to cover an specific angular range of the emitted electromagnetic radiation. Thus, a comprehensive Monte Carlo study of the detection sensitivity in terms of photopeak efficiency, resolution and peak-to-total ratio, as a function of the target-array distance is presented. Several configurations have been investigated, and MC-calculations indicate that a remarkable enhancement in resolving power can be achieved when double-cluster AGATA detectors are developed and implemented. Several experimental effects are also investigated. This concerns the impact of passive materials between the target and the array, the angular distribution of the detection efficiency and the influence of target thickness effects and transition lifetimes in the attainable detection sensitivity. A short overview on half-life measurements via lineshape effects utilizing AGATA is also presented. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Lalovic, N., Louchart, C., Michelagnoli, C., Perez-Vidal, R. M., Ralet, D., Gerl, J., et al. (2016). Performance of the AGATA gamma-ray spectrometer in the PreSPEC set-up at GSI. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 806, 258–266.
Abstract: In contemporary nuclear physics, the European Advanced GAmma Tracking Array (AGATA) represents a crucial detection system for cutting-edge nuclear structure studies. AGATA consists of highly segmented high-purity germanium crystals and uses the pulse-shape analysis technique to determine both the position and the energy of the y-ray interaction points in the crystals. It is the tracking algorithms that deploy this information and enable insight into the sequence of interactions, providing information on the full or partial absorption of the 7 ray. A series of dedicated performance measurements for an AGATA set-up comprising 21 crystals is described. This set-up was used within the recent PreSPEC-AGATA experimental campaign at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum fur Schwerionenforschung. Using the radioactive sources Co-56, Co-60 and Eu-152, absolute and normalized efficiencies and the peak-to-total of the array were measured. These quantities are discussed using different data analysis procedures. The quality of the pulse-shape analysis and the tracking algorithm are evaluated. The agreement between the experimental data and the Geant4 simulations is also investigated.
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Brook, N. H., Castillo Garcia, L., Conneely, T. M., Cussans, D., van Dijk, M. W. U., Fohl, K., et al. (2018). Testbeam studies of a TORCH prototype detector. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 908, 256–268.
Abstract: TORCH is a novel time-of-flight detector that has been developed to provide charged-particle identification between 2 and 10 GeV/c momentum. TORCH combines arrival times from multiple Cherenkov photons produced within a 10 mm-thick quartz radiator plate, to achieve a 15 ps time-of-flight resolution per incident particle. A customised Micro-Channel Plate photomultiplier tube (MCP-PMT) and associated readout system utilises an innovative charge-sharing technique between adjacent pixels to obtain the necessary 70 ps time resolution of each Cherenkov photon. A five-year R&D programme has been undertaken, culminating in the construction of a small-scale prototype TORCH module. In testbeams at CERN, this prototype operated successfully with customised electronics and readout system. A full analysis chain has been developed to reconstruct the data and to calibrate the detector. Results are compared to those using a commercial Planacon MCP-PMT, and single photon resolutions approaching 80 ps have been achieved. The photon counting efficiency was found to be in reasonable agreement with a GEANT4 Monte Carlo simulation of the detector. The small-scale demonstrator is a precursor to a full-scale TORCH module (with a radiator plate of 660 x 1250 x 10 mm(3)), which is currently under construction.
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Studen, A., Chesi, E., Cindro, V., Clinthorne, N. H., Cochran, E., Grosicar, B., et al. (2011). A silicon PET probe. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 648, S255–S258.
Abstract: PET scanners with high spatial resolution offer a great potential in improving diagnosis, therapy monitoring and treatment validation for several severe diseases. One way to improve resolution of a PET scanner is to extend a conventional PET ring with a small probe with excellent spatial resolution. The probe is intended to be placed close to the area of interest. The coincidences of interactions within the probe and the external ring provide a subset of data which combined with data from external ring, greatly improve resolution in the area viewed by the probe. Our collaboration is developing a prototype of a PET probe, composed of high-resolution silicon pad detectors. The detectors are 1 mm thick, measuring 40 by 26 mm(2), and several such sensors are envisaged to either compensate for low stopping power of silicon or increase the area covered by the probe. The sensors are segmented into 1 mm(3) cubic voxels, giving 1040 readout pads per sensor. A module is composed of two sensors placed in a back-to-back configuration, allowing for stacking fraction of up to 70% within a module. The pads are coupled to a set of 16 ASICs (VaTaGP7.1 by IDEAS) per module and read out through a custom designed data acquisition board, allowing for trigger and data interfacing with the external ring. This paper presents an overview of probe requirements and expected performance parameters. It will focus on the characteristics of the silicon modules and their impact on overall probe performance, including spatial resolution, energy resolution and timing resolution. We will show that 1 mm(3) voxels will significantly extend the spatial resolution of conventional PET rings, and that broadening of timing resolution related to varying depth of photon interactions can be compensated to match the timing resolution of the external ring. The initial test results of the probe will also be presented.
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Ullan, M., Benitez, V., Quirion, D., Zabala, M., Pellegrini, G., Lozano, M., et al. (2014). Low-resistance strip sensors for beam-loss event protection. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 765, 252–257.
Abstract: AC coupled silicon strip sensors can be damaged in case of a beam loss due to the possibility of a large charge accumulation in the bulk, developing very high voltages across the coupling capacitors which can destroy them. Punch-through structures are currently used to avoid this problem helping to evacuate the accumulated charge as large voltages are developing. Nevertheless, previous experiments, performed with laser pulses, have shown that these structures can become ineffective in relatively long strips. The large value of the implant resistance can effectively isolate the “far” end of the strip from the punchthrough structure leading to large voltages. We present here our developments to fabricate lowresistance strip sensors to avoid this problem. The deposition of a conducting material in contact with the implants drastically reduces the strip resistance, assuring the effectiveness of the punch-through structures. First devices have been fabricated with this new technology. Initial results with laser tests show the expected reduction in peak voltages on the low resistivity implants. Other aspects of the sensor performance, including the signal formation, are not affected by the new technology.
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Mengoni, D., Duenas, J. A., Assie, M., Boiano, C., John, P. R., Aliaga, R. J., et al. (2014). Digital pulse-shape analysis with a TRACE early silicon prototype. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 764, 241–246.
Abstract: A highly segmented silicon-pad detector prototype has been tested to explore the performance of the digital pulse shape analysis in the discrimination of the particles reaching the silicon detector. For the first time a 200 tun thin silicon detector, grown using an ordinary floating zone technique, has been shown to exhibit a level discrimination thanks to the fine segmentation. Light-charged particles down to few MeV have been separated, including their punch-through. A coaxial HPGe detector in time coincidence has further confirmed the quality of the particle discrimination.
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Soderstrom, P. A. et al, Agramunt, J., Egea, J., Gadea, A., & Huyuk, T. (2019). Neutron detection and gamma-ray suppression using artificial neural networks with the liquid scintillators BC-501A and BC-537. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 916, 238–245.
Abstract: In this work we present a comparison between the two liquid scintillators BC-501A and BC-537 in terms of their performance regarding the pulse-shape discrimination between neutrons and gamma rays. Special emphasis is put on the application of artificial neural networks. The results show a systematically higher gamma-ray rejection ratio for BC-501A compared to BC-537 applying the commonly used charge comparison method. Using the artificial neural network approach the discrimination quality was improved to more than 95% rejection efficiency of gamma rays over the energy range 150 to 1000 keV for both BC-501A and BC-537. However, due to the larger light output of BC-501A compared to BC-537, neutrons could be identified in BC-501A using artificial neural networks down to a recoil proton energy of 800 keV compared to a recoil deuteron energy of 1200 keV for BC-537. We conclude that using artificial neural networks it is possible to obtain the same gamma-ray rejection quality from both BC-501A and BC-537 for neutrons above a low-energy threshold. This threshold is, however, lower for BC-501A, which is important for nuclear structure spectroscopy experiments of rare reaction channels where low-energy interactions dominates.
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Moles-Valls, R. (2011). Alignment of the ATLAS Inner Detector with proton-proton collision data. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 650(1), 235–239.
Abstract: ATLAS is a multipurpose experiment that records the products of the LHC collisions. In order to reconstruct the trajectories of the charged particles produced in these collisions. ATLAS has an internal tracking system made of silicon planar sensors (pixels and micro-strips) and drift-tube based detectors; both together, they constitute the ATLAS Inner Detector. The alignment of the ATLAS tracking system requires the determination of their almost 36,000 degrees-of-freedom (DOF) with high accuracy. Thus, the demanded precision for the alignment of the pixel and micro-strip sensors is below 10 μm. As alignment algorithms are based on the minimization of the track-hit residuals, a linear system with a large number of DOF has to be solved. The alignment results of the ATLAS tracker using data recorded during cosmic commissioning phases in 2008 and 2009 and the LHC start up run in 2009 will be presented. Moreover recent 7 TeV data collected during 2010 run have been used to study the detector performance. These studies reveal that the detector is aligned with a precision high enough to cope with the requirements.
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Liu, S., Bogard, F., Cornebise, P., Faus-Golfe, A., Fuster-Martinez, N., Griesmayer, E., et al. (2016). In vacuum diamond sensor scanner for beam halo measurements in the beam line at the KEK Accelerator Test Facility. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 832, 231–242.
Abstract: The investigation of beam halo transverse distributions is important for the understanding of beam losses and the control of backgrounds in Future Linear Colliders (FLC). A novel in vacuum diamond sensor (DSv) scanner with four strips has been designed and developed for the investigation of the beam halo transverse distributions and also for the diagnostics of Compton recoil electrons after the interaction point (IP) of ATF2, a low energy (1.3 GeV) prototype of the final focus system for the ILC and CLIC linear collider projects. Using the DSv, a dynamic range of similar to 10(6) has been successfully demonstrated and confirmed for the first time in simultaneous beam core (similar to 10(6) electrons) and beam halo (similar to 10(3) electrons) measurements at ATF2. This report presents the characterization, performance studies and tests of diamond sensors using an a source, as well as using the electron beams at PHIL, a low energy (<5 MeV) photo-injector at LAL, and at ATF2. First beam halo measurement results using the DSv at ATF2 with different beam intensities and vacuum levels are also presented. Such measurements not only allow one to evaluate the different sources of beam halo generation but also to define the requirements for a suitable collimation system to be installed at ATF2, as well as to optimize its performance during future operation.
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Herrero, V., Toledo, J., Catala, J. M., Esteve, R., Gil, A., Lorca, D., et al. (2012). Readout electronics for the SiPM tracking plane in the NEXT-1 prototype. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 695, 229–232.
Abstract: NEXT is a new experiment to search for neutrinoless double beta decay using a 100 kg radio-pure high-pressure gaseous xenon TPC with electroluminescence readout. A large-scale prototype with a SiPM tracking plane has been built. The primary electron paths can be reconstructed from time-resolved measurements of the light that arrives to the SiPM plane. Our approach is to measure how many photons have reached each SiPM sensor each microsecond with a gated integrator. We have designed and tested a 16-channel front-end board that includes the analog paths and a digital section. Each analog path consists of three different stages: a transimpedance amplifier, a gated integrator and an offset and gain control stage. Measurements show good linearity and the ability to detect single photoelectrons.
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