Gil, A., Diaz, J., Gomez-Cadenas, J. J., Herrero, V., Rodriguez, J., Serra, L., et al. (2012). Front-end electronics for accurate energy measurement of double beta decays. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 695, 407–409.
Abstract: NEXT, a double beta decay experiment that will operate in Canfranc Underground Laboratory (Spain), aims at measuring the neutrinoless double-beta decay of the 136Xe isotope using a TPC filled with enriched Xenon gas at high pressure operated in electroluminescence mode. One technological challenge of the experiment is to achieve resolution better than 1% in the energy measurement using a plane of UV sensitive photomultipliers readout with appropriate custom-made front-end electronics. The front-end is designed to be sensitive to the single photo-electron to detect the weak primary scintillation light produced in the chamber, and also to be able to cope with the electroluminescence signal (several hundred times higher and with a duration of microseconds). For efficient primary scintillation detection and precise energy measurement of the electroluminescent signals the front-end electronics features low noise and adequate amplification. The signal shaping provided allows the digitization of the signals at a frequency as low as 40 MHz.
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T2K Collaboration(Abe, K. et al), Cervera-Villanueva, A., Escudero, L., Gomez-Cadenas, J. J., Hansen, C., Monfregola, L., et al. (2012). Measurements of the T2K neutrino beam properties using the INGRID on-axis near detector. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 694, 211–223.
Abstract: Precise measurement of neutrino beam direction and intensity was achieved based on a new concept with modularized neutrino detectors. INGRID (Interactive Neutrino GRID) is an on-axis near detector for the T2K long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. INGRID consists of 16 identical modules arranged in horizontal and vertical arrays around the beam center. The module has a sandwich structure of iron target plates and scintillator trackers. INGRID directly monitors the muon neutrino beam profile center and intensity using the number of observed neutrino events in each module. The neutrino beam direction is measured with accuracy better than 0.4 mrad from the measured profile center. The normalized event rate is measured with 4% precision. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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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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Vilella, E., Alonso, O., Trenado, J., Vila, A., Casanova, R., Vos, M., et al. (2012). A test beam setup for the characterization of the Geiger-mode avalanche photodiode technology for particle tracking. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 694, 199–204.
Abstract: It is well known that avalanche photodiodes operated in the Geiger mode above the breakdown voltage offer a virtually infinite gain and time accuracy in the picosecond range that can be used for single photon detection. However, their performance in particle detection still remains unexplored. In this contribution, we are going to expose different steps that we have taken in order to prove the efficiency of the Geiger mode avalanche photodiodes in the aforementioned field. In particular, we will present a setup for the characterization of these sensors in a test beam. The expected results of the test beam at DESY and CERN have been simulated with Geant4 and will also be exposed.
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Blanco, A., Belver, D., Cabanelas, P., Diaz, J., Fonte, P., Garzon, J. A., et al. (2012). RPC HADES-TOF wall cosmic ray test performance. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 661, S114–S117.
Abstract: In this work we present results concerning the cosmic ray test, prior to the final installation and commissioning of the new Resistive Plate Chamber (RPC) Time of Flight (TOF) wall for the High-Acceptance DiElectron Spectrometer (HADES) at GSI. The TOF wall is composed of six equal sectors, each one constituted by 186 individual 4-gaps glass-aluminium shielded RPC cells distributed in six columns and 31 rows in two partially overlapping layers, covering an area of 1.26 m(2). All sectors were tested with the final Front End Electronic (FEE) and Data AcQuisition system (DAQ) together with Low Voltage (LV) and High Voltage (HV) systems. Results confirm a very uniform average system time resolution of 77 ps sigma together with an average multi-hit time resolution of 83 ps. Crosstalk levels below 1% (in average), moderate timing tails along with an average longitudinal position resolution of 8.4 mm sigma are also confirmed.
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Clinthorne, N., Brzezinski, K., Chesi, E., Cochran, E., Grkovski, M., Grosicar, B., et al. (2013). Silicon as an unconventional detector in positron emission tomography. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 699, 216–220.
Abstract: Positron emission tomography (PET) is a widely used technique in medical imaging and in studying small animal models of human disease. In the conventional approach, the 511 keV annihilation photons emitted from a patient or small animal are detected by a ring of scintillators such as LYSO read out by arrays of photodetectors. Although this has been successful in achieving similar to 5 mm FWHM spatial resolution in human studies and similar to 1 mm resolution in dedicated small animal instruments, there is interest in significantly improving these figures. Silicon, although its stopping power is modest for 511 keV photons, offers a number of potential advantages over more conventional approaches including the potential for high intrinsic spatial resolution in 3D. To evaluate silicon in a variety of PET “magnifying glass” configurations, an instrument was constructed that consists of an outer partial-ring of PET scintillation detectors into which various arrangements of silicon detectors are inserted to emulate dual-ring or imaging probe geometries. Measurements using the test instrument demonstrated the capability of clearly resolving point sources of Na-22 having a 1.5 mm center-to-center spacing as well as the 1.2 mm rods of a F-18-filled resolution phantom. Although many challenges remain, silicon has potential to become the PET detector of choice when spatial resolution is the primary consideration. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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AGATA Collaboration(Crespi, F. C. L. et al), & Gadea, A. (2013). Response of AGATA segmented HPGe detectors to gamma rays up to 15.1 MeV. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 705, 47–54.
Abstract: The response of AGATA segmented HPGe detectors to gamma rays in the energy range 2-15 MeV was measured. The 15.1 MeV gamma rays were produced using the reaction d(B-11,n gamma)C-12 at E-beam=19.1 MeV, while gamma rays between 2 and 9 MeV were produced using an Am-Be-Fe radioactive source. The energy resolution and linearity were studied and the energy-to-pulse-height conversion resulted to be linear within 0.05%.Experimental interaction multiplicity distributions are discussed and compared with the results of Geant4 simulations. It is shown that the application of gamma-ray tracking allows a suppression of background radiation caused by n-capture in Ge nuclei. Finally the Doppler correction for the 15.1 MeV gamma line, performed using the position information extracted with Pulse-shape analysis is discussed.
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Studen, A., Brzezinski, K., Chesi, E., Cindro, V., Clinthorne, N. H., Cochran, E., et al. (2013). Silicon detectors for combined MR-PET and MR-SPECT imaging. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 702, 88–90.
Abstract: Silicon based devices can extend PET-MR and SPECT-MR imaging to applications, where their advantages in performance outweigh benefits of high statistical counts. Silicon is in many ways an excellent detector material with numerous advantages, among others: excellent energy and spatial resolution, mature processing technology, large signal to noise ratio, relatively low price, availability, versatility and malleability. The signal in silicon is also immune to effects of magnetic field at the level normally used in MR devices. Tests in fields up to 7 T were performed in a study to determine effects of magnetic field on positron range in a silicon PET device. The curvature of positron tracks in direction perpendicular to the field's orientation shortens the distance between emission and annihilation point of the positron. The effect can be fully appreciated for a rotation of the sample for a fixed field direction, compressing range in all dimensions. A popular Ga-68 source was used showing a factor of 2 improvement in image noise compared to zero field operation. There was also a little increase in noise as the reconstructed resolution varied between 2.5 and 1.5 mm. A speculative applications can be recognized in both emission modalities, SPECT and PET. Compton camera is a subspecies of SPECT, where a silicon based scatter as a MR compatible part could inserted into the MR bore and the secondary detector could operate in less constrained environment away from the magnet. Introducing a Compton camera also relaxes requirements of the radiotracers used, extending the range of conceivable photon energies beyond 140.5 keV of the Tc-99m. In PET, one could exploit the compressed sub-millimeter range of positrons in the magnetic field. To exploit the advantage, detectors with spatial resolution commensurate to the effect must be used with silicon being an excellent candidate. Measurements performed outside of the MR achieving spatial resolution below 1 mm are reported.
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NEXT Collaboration(Alvarez, V. et al), Carcel, S., Cervera-Villanueva, A., Diaz, J., Ferrario, P., Gil, A., et al. (2013). Near-intrinsic energy resolution for 30-662 keV gamma rays in a high pressure xenon electroluminescent TPC. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 708, 101–114.
Abstract: We present the design, data and results from the NEXT prototype for Double Beta and Dark Matter (NEXT-DBDM) detector, a high-pressure gaseous natural xenon electroluminescent time projection chamber (TPC) that was built at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. It is a prototype of the planned NEXT-100 Xe-136 neutrino-less double beta decay (0 nu beta beta) experiment with the main objectives of demonstrating near-intrinsic energy resolution at energies up to 662 keV and of optimizing the NEXT-100 detector design and operating parameters. Energy resolutions of similar to 1% FWHM for 662 keV gamma rays were obtained at 10 and 15 atm and similar to 5% FWHM for 30 keV fluorescence xenon X-rays. These results demonstrate that 0.5% FWHM resolutions for the 2459 keV hypothetical neutrino-less double beta decay peak are realizable. This energy resolution is a factor 7-20 better than that of the current leading 0 nu beta beta experiments using liquid xenon and thus represents a significant advancement. We present also first results from a track imaging system consisting of 64 silicon photo-multipliers recently installed in NEXT-DBDM that, along with the excellent energy resolution, demonstrates the key functionalities required for the NEXT-100 0 nu beta beta search.
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BABAR Collaboration(Lees, J. P. et al), Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., & Villanueva-Perez, P. (2013). Time-integrated luminosity recorded by the BABAR detector at the PEP-II e(+)e(-) collider. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 726, 203–213.
Abstract: We describe a measurement of the time-integrated luminosity of the data collected by the BABAR experiment at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e(+)e(-) collider at the Upsilon(4S), Upsilon(3S), and Upsilon(2S) resonances and in a continuum region below each resonance. We measure the time-integrated luminosity by counting e(+)e(-)-> e(+)e(-) and (for the Upsilon(4S) only) e(+)e(-)->mu(+)mu(-) candidate events, allowing additional photons in the final state. We use data-corrected simulation to determine the cross-sections and reconstruction efficiencies for these processes, as well as the major backgrounds. Due to the large cross-sections of e(+)e(-)-> e(+)e(-) and e(+)e(-)->mu(+)mu(-), the statistical uncertainties of the measurement are substantially smaller than the systematic uncertainties. The dominant systematic uncertainties are due to observed differences between data and simulation, as well as uncertainties on the cross-sections. For data collected on the Upsilon(3S) and Upsilon(2S) resonances, an additional uncertainty arises due to Upsilon -> e(+)e(-)X background. For data collected off the Upsilon resonances, we estimate an additional uncertainty due to time dependent efficiency variations, which can affect the short off-resonance runs. The relative uncertainties on the luminosities of the on-resonance (off-resonance) samples are 0.43% (0.43%) for the Upsilon(4S), 0.58% (0.72%) for the Upsilon(3S), and 0.68% (0.88%) for the Upsilon(2S).
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