A prototype of trigger electronics for LAWCA experiment

The Large Area Water Cherenkov Array （LAWCA） experiment focuses on high energy gamma astronomy between 100 GeV and 30 TeV. Invoked by the idea of hardware triggerless structure, a prototype of LAWCA trigger electronics is implemented in one single VME-9U module which obtains all the data from the 100 Front End Electronic （FEE） endpoints. Since the trigger electronics accumulate all the information, the flexibility of trigger processing can be improved. Meanwhile, the dedicated hardware trigger signals which are fed back to front end are eliminated; this leads to a system with better simplicity and stability. To accommodate the 5.4 Gbps system average data rate, the fiber based high speed serial data transmission is adopted. Based on the logic design in one single FPGA device, real-time trigger processing is achieved; the reprogrammable feature of the FPGA device renders a reconfigurable structure of trigger electronics. Simulation and initial testing results indicate that the trigger electronics prototype functions well.     

Clock distribution for BaF_2 readout electronics at CSNS-WNS

A BaF_2(Barium Fluoride) detector array is designed to precisely measure the(n, γ) cross section at the CSNS-WNS(white neutron source at China Spallation Neutron Source). It is a 4π solid angle-shaped detector array consisting of 92 BaF_2 crystal elements. To discriminate signals from the BaF_2 detector, a pulse shape discrimination method is used, supported by a waveform digitization technique. There are 92 channels for digitizing. The precision and synchronization of clock distribution restricts the performance of waveform digitizing. In this paper, a clock prototype for the BaF_2 readout electronics at CSNS-WNS is introduced. It is based on the PXIe platform and has a twin-stage tree topology. In the first stage, clock is synchronously distributed from the tree root to each PXIe crate through a coaxial cable over a long distance, while in the second stage, the clock is further distributed to each electronic module through a PXIe dedicated differential star bus. With the help of this topology, each tree node can fan out up to 20 clocks with 3U size. Test results show the clock jitter is less than 20 ps, which meets the requirements of the BaF_2 readout electronics. Besides, this clock system has the advantages of high density, simplicity, scalability and cost saving, so it can be useful for other clock distribution applications.     

BESIII barrel time-of-flight （TOF） calibration using cosmic ray data

The principle of the method for the BESIII TOF calibration using cosmic ray data without magnetic field are reported in this paper. After applying calibration constants, the single-end readout time resolution could reach about 150 ps, and the time resolution for one layer is achieved to be about 110 ps. The paper also described the extraction scheme for the event start time of cosmic events.     

A study of time over threshold (TOT) technique for plastic scintillator counter

A new charge measurement method, time over threshold (TOT), has been used in some gas detectors lately. Here TOT is studied for TOF system, made of plastic scintillator counter, which can simplify the electronics of the system. The signal characteristics are measured and analyzed with a high quality oscilloscope, including noise, pedestal, signal amplitude, total charge, rise time and the correlation between them. The TOT and charge are related and can be fitted by some empirical formula. The charge measurement resolution by TOT is given and this will help the design of TOF electronics.     

Studies of timing properties for a TOF counter at an external target facility

Timing and amplitude properties of a prototype scintillator TOF counter at an external target facility are studied with a cosmic rays test. The dependence of signal pulse height and time resolution on the coordinate along the scintillator TOF counter is investigated with two different discriminators. A time resolution of 165 ps can be achieved at the center of the counter with a constant fraction discriminator. Time resolution better than 150 ps is obtained at the center with a leading edge discriminator after time wall（ correction is applied for off-line analysis.     

A new positron annihilation lifetime spectrometer based on DRS4 waveform digitizing board

Abstract： A new simple digital positron lifetime spectrometer has been developed. It includes a DRS4 waveform digitizing board and two scintillation detectors based on the XP2020Q photomultiplier tubes and LaBr3 scintillators. The DRS4 waveform digitizing can handle small pulses, down to few tens of millivolts, and its time scale linearity and stability are very good. The new system has reached a 206 ps time resolution, which is better than the conventional analog apparatus using the same detectors. These improvements make this spectrometer more simple and convenient in comparison with other spectrometers, and it can be applied to the other scintillation timing measurements with picosecond accuracy.     

Trigger design for a gamma ray detector of HIRFL-ETF

The Gamma Ray Array Detector (GRAD) is one subsystem of HIRFL-ETF (the External Target Facility (ETF) of the Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou (HIRFL)). It is capable of measuring the energy of gamma-rays with 1024 CsI scintillators in in-beam nuclear experiments. The GRAD trigger should select the valid events and reject the data from the scintillators which are not hit by the gamma-ray. The GRAD trigger has been developed based on the Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGAs) and PXI interface. It makes prompt trigger decisions to select valid events by processing the hit signals from the 1024 CsI scintillators. According to the physical requirements, the GRAD trigger module supplies 12-bit trigger information for the global trigger system of ETF and supplies a trigger signal for data acquisition (DAQ) system of GRAD. In addition, the GRAD trigger generates trigger data that are packed and transmitted to the host computer via PXI bus to be saved for off-line analysis. The trigger processing is implemented in the front-end electronics of GRAD and one FPGA of the GRAD trigger module. The logic of PXI transmission and reconfiguration is implemented in another FPGA of the GRAD trigger module. During the gamma-ray experiments, the GRAD trigger performs reliably and efficiently. The function of GRAD trigger is capable of satisfying the physical requirements.     

Investigation of the time performance of a LYSO array for TOF-PET

Positron Emission Tomography(PET) using time-of-flight information,which can greatly improve the quality of the reconstructed image,has recently become an exciting topic.In this work,3.2 mmx3.2 mmx25 mm finger-like LYSO crystals were used to make a 5x5 array,coupled to the Hamamatsu H8500 photomultiplier tube(PMT) as a detector.A fast leading-edge discriminator was designed for the LYSO-H8500 detector.Average coincidence time resolution FWHM of 330 ps was obtained for the LYSO detector with a reference BaF_2 detector,whose time resolution for 511 keV γ-rays was FWHM 150 ps.Time resolution FWHM of 294 ps was calculated for the LYSO detector,and coincidence time resolution of FHWM 415 ps can be expected for two identical LYSO detectors.     

Chaotic attractor transforming control of hybrid Lorenz-Chen system

Based on passive theory, this paper studies a hybrid chaotic dynamical system from the mathematics perspective to implement the control of system stabilization. According to the Jacobian matrix of the nonlinear system, the stabilization control region is gotten. The controller is designed to stabilize fast the minimum phase Lorenz-Chen chaotic system after equivalently transforming from chaotic system to passive system. The simulation results show that the system not only can be controlled at the different equilibria, but also can be transformed between the different chaotic attractors.     

System design for precise digitization and readout of the CSNS-WNS BaF_2 spectrometer

The BaF_2 (barium fluoride) spectrometer is one of the experiment facilities at the CSNS-WNS(White Neutron Source at China Spallation Neutron Source), currently under construction. It is designed to precisely measure the(n, γ) cross section, with 92 crystal elements and complete 4π steradian coverage. In order to improve the precision of measurement, in this paper, a new precise digitization and readout method is proposed. Waveform digitizing with 1 GSps sampling rate and 12-bit resolution is used to precisely capture the detector signal. To solve the problem of massive data readout and processing, the readout electronics is designed as a distributed architecture with 4 PXIe crates. The digitized signal is concentrated to the PXIe crate controller through a PCIe bus on the backplane and transmitted to the data acquisition system over gigabit Ethernet in parallel. Besides, the clock and trigger can be fanned out synchronously to every electronic channel over a high-precision distribution network. Test results show that the prototype of the readout electronics can achieve good performance and meet the requirements of the CSNS-WNS BaF_2 spectrometer.     

Development of front-end readout electronics for silicon strip detectors

Front-end readout electronics have been developed for silicon strip detectors at our institute. In this system an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) ATHED is used to realize multi-channel energy and time measurements. The slow control of ASIC chips is achieved by parallel port and the timing control signals of ASIC chips are implemented with the CPLD. The data acquisition is carried out with a PXI-DAQ card. The software has a user-friendly GUI developed with LabWindows/CVI in the Windows XP operating system. The test results show that the energy resolution is about 1.14% for alpha at 5.48 MeV and the maximum channel crosstalk of the system is 4.60%. The performance of the system is very reliable and is suitable for nuclear physics experiments.     

BESⅢ barrel time-of-flight (TOF) calibration using cosmic ray data

The principle of the method for the BESⅢ TOF calibration using cosmic ray data without magnetic field are reported in this paper. After applying calibration constants, the single-end readout time resolution could reach about 150 ps, and the time resolution for one layer is achieved to be about 110 ps. The paper also described the extraction scheme for the event start time of cosmic events.     

Time calibration for the end cap TOF system of BESⅢ

The time calibration for end cap TOF system of BESⅢ is studied in this paper. It has achieved about 110 ps time resolution for muons in dimu events. The pulse height correction using electronic scan curve and the predicted time calculated using Kalman filter method are introduced. This paper also describes the study of using electrons and muons as calibration samples.     

BESⅢ ETOF upgrade readout electronics commissioning

It is proposed to upgrade the endcap time-of-flight(ETOF) of the Beijing Spectrometer Ⅲ(BESⅢ) with a multi-gap resistive plate chamber(MRPC), aiming at an overall time resolution of about 80 ps. After completing the entire readout electronics system, some experiments, such as heat radiation, radiation hardness and large-current beam tests, have been carried out to confirm the reliability and stability of the readout electronics. An on-detector test of the readout electronics has also been performed with the beam at the BEPCⅡ E3 line. The test results indicate that the readout electronics system fulfills its design requirements.     

Method for improving the time resolution of a TOF system

In order to study the possibility of improving the timing performance of the time of flight (TOF) systems, which are made of plastic scintillator counters, and read out by photomultiplier tubes (PMT) with mesh dynodes and conventional electronics, we have conducted a study using faster PMTs and ultra fast waveform digitizers to read out the plastic scintillators. Different waveform analysis methods are used to calculate the time resolution of such a system. Results are compared with the conventional discriminating method based on a threshold and pulse height. Our tests and analysis show that significant timing performance improvements can be achieved by using this new system.     

Method for improving the time resolution of TOF system

In order to study the possibility of improving the timing performance of the time of flight (TOF) systems, which are made of plastic scintillator counters, and read out by photomultiplier tubes (PMT) with mesh dynodes and conventional electronics, we have conducted a study using faster PMTs and ultra fast waveform digitizers to read out the plastic scintillators. Different waveform analysis methods are used to calculate the time resolution of such a system. Results are compared with the conventional discriminating method based on a threshold and pulse height. Our tests and analysis show that significant timing performance improvements can be achieved by using this new system.     

A data readout approach for physics experiments

With increasing physical event rates and the number of electronic channels, traditional readout schemes meet the challenge of improving readout speed caused by the limited bandwidth of the crate backplane. In this paper, a high-speed data readout method based on the Ethernet is presented to make each readout module capable of transmitting data to the DAQ. Features of explicitly parallel data transmitting and distributed network architecture give the readout system the advantage of adapting varying requirements of particle physics experiments. Furthermore, to guarantee the readout performance and flexibility, a standalone embedded CPU system is utilized for network protocol stack processing. To receive the customized data format and protocol from front-end electronics, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) is used for logic reconfiguration. To optimize the interface and to improve the data throughput between CPU and FPGA, a sophisticated method based on SRAM is presented in this paper. For the purpose of evaluating this high-speed readout method, a simplified readout module is designed and implemented. Test results show that this module can support up to 70 Mbps data throughput from the readout module to DAQ.     

Optical attenuator based on phase modulation of a spatial light modulator

In this Letter, we propose an optical attenuator based on the phase modulation of a spatial light modulator(SLM). In this system, we use two polarized beam splitters(PBSs) to control the polarized light and one SLM to modulate the phase of the polarized light. In the initial state, the light beam is divided into p-light and s-light when it passes through the first PBS. When the light passes through the second PBS, s-light is reflected and p-light is detected by the CCD camera. By loading different grayscales on the SLM, p-light changes its polarized state to s-light. The light power can be attenuated during the loading process. Our experiment shows that the system can obtain a wide optical attenuation from 1–27.2 d B. When loading two grayscales,the SLM has a fast switching time of 25 ms under a low actuated voltage of 5.5 V. The response time of the optical attenuator depends on the switching time of the SLM. Therefore, the system can also have a fast response time. By using the method of spatial multiplexing and adding two mirrors in the system, it can also be extended into a 1 × 2 optical switch. The results verify its feasibility. The optical attenuator has wide applications in photonic signal processing and fiber-optic communication.     

A new positron annihilation lifetime spectrometer based on DRS4 waveform digitizing board

A new simple digital positron lifetime spectrometer has been developed. It includes a DRS4 waveform digitizing board and two scintillation detectors based on the XP2020Q photomultiplier tubes and LaBr₃ scintillators. The DRS4 waveform digitizing can handle small pulses, down to few tens of millivolts, and its time scale linearity and stability are very good. The new system has reached a 206 ps time resolution, which is better than the conventional analog apparatus using the same detectors. These improvements make this spectrometer more simple and convenient in comparison with other spectrometers, and it can be applied to the other scintillation timing measurements with picosecond accuracy.     

Study of time resolution by digital methods with a DRS4 module

A new Digital Pulse Processing(DPP) module has been developed, based on a domino ring sampler version 4 chip(DRS4), with good time resolution for La Br3 detectors, and different digital timing analysis methods for processing the raw detector signals are reported. The module, composed of an eight channel DRS4 chip, was used as the readout electronics and acquisition system to process the output signals from XP20D0 photomultiplier tubes(PMTs). Two PMTs were coupled with La Br3 scintillators and placed on opposite sides of a radioactive positron22 Na source for 511 ke V γ-ray tests. By analyzing the raw data acquired by the module, the best coincidence timing resolution is about 194.7 ps(FWHM), obtained by the digital constant fraction discrimination(d CFD) method,which is better than other digital methods and analysis methods based on conventional analog systems which have been tested. The results indicate that it is a promising approach to better localize the positron annihilation in positron emission tomography(PET) with time of flight(TOF), as well as for scintillation timing measurement,such as in TOF-?E and TOF-E systems for particle identification, with picosecond accuracy timing measurement.Furthermore, this module is more simple and convenient than other systems.