Miñano, M. (2011). Radiation Hard Silicon Strips Detectors for the SLHC. IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci., 58(3), 1135–1140.
Abstract: While the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) began taking data in 2009, scenarios for a machine upgrade to achieve a much higher luminosity are being developed. In the current planning, it is foreseen to increase the luminosity of the LHC at CERN around 2018. As radiation damage scales with integrated luminosity, the particle physics experiments will need to be equipped with a new generation of radiation hard detectors. This article reports on the status of the R&D projects on radiation hard silicon strips detectors for particle physics, linked to the Large Hadron Collider Upgrade, super-LHC (sLHC) of the ATLAS microstrip detector. The primary focus of this report is on measuring the radiation hardness of the silicon materials and the detectors under study. This involves designing silicon detectors, irradiating them to the sLHC radiation levels and studying their performance as particle detectors. The most promising silicon detector for the different radiation levels in the different regions of the ATLAS microstrip detector will be presented. Important challenges related to engineering layout, powering, cooling and reading out a very large strip detector are presented. Ideas on possible schemes for the layout and support mechanics will be shown.
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Briz, J. A., Nerio, A. N., Ballesteros, C., Borge, M. J. G., Martinez, P., Perea, A., et al. (2022). Proton Radiographs Using Position-Sensitive Silicon Detectors and High-Resolution Scintillators. IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci., 69(4), 696–702.
Abstract: Proton therapy is a cancer treatment technique currently in growth since it offers advantages with respect to conventional X-ray and gamma-ray radiotherapy. In particular, better control of the dose deposition allowing to reach higher conformity in the treatments causing less secondary effects. However, in order to take full advantage of its potential, improvements in treatment planning and dose verification are required. A new prototype of proton computed tomography scanner is proposed to design more accurate and precise treatment plans for proton therapy. Our prototype is formed by double-sided silicon strip detectors and scintillators of LaBr3(Ce) with high energy resolution and fast response. Here, the results obtained from an experiment performed using a 100-MeV proton beam are presented. Proton radiographs of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) samples of 50-mm thickness with spatial patterns in aluminum were taken. Their properties were studied, including reproduction of the dimensions, spatial resolution, and sensitivity to different materials. Structures of up to 2 mm are well resolved and the sensitivity of the system was enough to distinguish the thicknesses of 10 mm of aluminum or PMMA. The spatial resolution of the images was 0.3 line pairs per mm (MTF-10%). This constitutes the first step to validate the device as a proton radiography scanner.
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Boronat, M., Marinas, C., Frey, A., Garcia, I., Schwenker, B., Vos, M., et al. (2015). Physical Limitations to the Spatial Resolution of Solid-State Detectors. IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci., 62(1), 381–386.
Abstract: In this paper we explore the effect of delta-ray emission and fluctuations in the signal deposition on the detection of charged particles in silicon-based detectors. We show that these two effects ultimately limit the resolution that can be achieved by interpolation of the signal in finely segmented position-sensitive solid-state devices.
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Capra, S., Mengoni, D., Dueñas, J. A., John, P. R., Gadea, A., Aliaga, R. J., et al. (2019). Performance of the new integrated front-end electronics of the TRACE array commissioned with an early silicon detector prototype. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 935, 178–184.
Abstract: The spectroscopic performances of the new integrated ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit) preamplifiers for highly segmented silicon detectors have been evaluated with an early silicon detector prototype of the TRacking Array for light Charged Ejectiles (TRACE). The ASICS were mounted on a custom-designed PCB (Printed Circuit Board) and the detector plugged on it. Energy resolution tests, performed on the same detector before and after irradiation, yielded a resolution of 21 keV and 33 keV FWHM respectively. The output signals were acquired with an array of commercial 100-MHz 14-bit digitizers. The preamplifier chip is equipped with an innovative Fast-Reset device that has two functions: it reduces dramatically the dead time of the preamplifier in case of saturation (from milliseconds to microseconds) and extends the spectroscopic dynamic range of the preamplifier by more than one order of magnitude. Other key points of the device are the low noise and the wide bandwidth.
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Muñoz, E., Barrio, J., Etxebeste, A., Ortega, P. G., Lacasta, C., Oliver, J. F., et al. (2017). Performance evaluation of MACACO: a multilayer Compton camera. Phys. Med. Biol., 62(18), 7321–7341.
Abstract: Compton imaging devices have been proposed and studied for a wide range of applications. We have developed a Compton camera prototype which can be operated with two or three detector layers based on monolithic lanthanum bromide (LaBr3) crystals coupled to silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs), to be used for proton range verification in hadron therapy. In this work, we present the results obtained with our prototype in laboratory tests with radioactive sources and in simulation studies. Images of a Na-22 and an Y-88 radioactive sources have been successfully reconstructed. The full width half maximum of the reconstructed images is below 4 mm for a Na-22 source at a distance of 5 cm.
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