Time-of-flight system for the multipurpose detector (MPD)

A conceptual design for a multipurpose detector (MPD) [1] is proposed for the study of hot and dense barony matter in collisions of heavy ions over the atomic mass range A = 1–197 at center-of-mass energies of up to 11 GeV (for Au⁷⁹⁺). The MPD experiment is scheduled to be performed at a future JINR accelerator complex facility for heavy ions, the Nuclotron-based Ion Collider Facility (NICA), which is designed to reach the required parameters with an average luminosity of L = 10²⁹ cm⁻² s⁻¹. Identification of charged hadrons (PIDs) at intermediate momenta (0.1–2 GeV/c) is achieved via time-of-flight (TOF) measurements. As a base element of the TOF detector, we consider a 10 gap MRPC with a strip or pad readout. Results from an MRCP prototype test are presented.     

Neutron detector array at IUAC: Design features and instrumentation developments

The characteristics and performance of the newly commissioned neutron detector array at IUAC are described. The array consists of 100 BC501 liquid scintillators mounted in a semi-spherical geometry and are kept at a distance of 175 cm from the reaction point. Each detector is a 5^″ × 5^″ cylindrical cell coupled to 5^″ diameter photomultiplier tube (PMT). Signal processing is realized using custom-designed home-made integrated electronic modules which perform neutron – gamma discrimination using zero cross timing and time-of-flight (TOF) technique. Compact custom built high voltage power supply developed using DC–DC converters are used to bias the detector. The neutrons are recorded in coincidence with fission fragments which are detected using multi-wire proportional counters mounted inside a 1 m diameter SS target chamber. The detectors and electronics have been tested off-line using radioactive sources and the results are presented.     

Development of radiation medicine at DLNP, JINR

The Dzhelepov Laboratory of Nuclear Problems’ activity is aimed at developing three directions in radiation medicine: 3D conformal proton therapy, accelerator techniques for proton and carbon treatment of tumors, and new types of detector systems for spectrometric computed tomography (CT) and positron emission tomography (PET). JINR and IBA have developed and constructed the medical proton cyclotron C235-V3. At present, all basic cyclotron systems have been built. We plan to assemble this cyclotron at JINR in 2011 and perform tests with the extracted proton beam in 2012. A superconducting isochronous cyclotron C400 has been designed by the IBA-JINR collaboration. This cyclotron will be used for radiotherapy with proton, helium and carbon ions. The ¹²C⁶⁺ and ⁴He²⁺ ions will be accelerated to an energy of 400 MeV/amu, the protons will be extracted at the energy 265 MeV. The construction of the C400 cyclotron was started in 2010 within the framework of the Archarde project (France). Development of spectrometric CT tomographs may allow one to determine the chemical composition of a substance together with the density, measured using traditional CT. This may advance modern diagnostic methods significantly. JINR develops fundamentally new pixel detector systems for spectrometric CT. The time-of-flight (TOF) system installed in the positron emission tomograph (PET) permits essential reduction in the detector noise from occasional events of different positron annihilations. The micropixel avalanche photodiodes (MAPDs) developed at JINR allow a factor of 1.5 reduction in the resolution time for the PET TOF system and suppression of the noise level as compared to commercial PET. The development of a combined PET/MRI is of considerable medical interest, but it cannot be made with the existing PET tomographs based on detectors of compact photomultipliers due to strong alternating magnetic field of MRI. Change-over to detectors of micropixel avalanche photodiodes permits making a combined PET/MRI.     

用于裂变碎片质量测量的MCP和Au-Si SBD飞行时间探测系统

为了能很好地鉴别碎片质量,建立一个好的飞行时间测量方法是十分必要的。阐述了建立用于裂变碎片质量测量的微通道板（MCP）和金硅面垒探测器（SBD）飞行时间探测系统。对于80 μg/cm2厚的碳膜,241Am的α粒子的探测效率约为39%,252Cf（sf）裂变碎片的探测效率约为98%。在动能为78 MeV条件下,对252Cf（sf）重裂变碎片（138~148 u）得到的时间分辨为（224:1±6:1）ps;在动能为102 MeV条件下,对252Cf（sf）轻裂变碎片（101~111 u）,得到的时间分辨为（154:5±5:8）ps。In order to separate the mass number of fragments in the fission reactions, it is essential to develop a good time-of-flight (TOF) method. The purpose of this article is to set up a TOF detector system including a microchannel plate (MCP) and a Au-Si surface-barrier detector (SBD). The TOF system shows a detection efficiency of 39% for α-particles released from 241Am and 98% for fragments in the spontaneous fission of 252Cf. The experimental results show that the time resolutions of (224:1±6:1) ps for the heavy fragments (Ek=78 MeV, AH=138~148 u) and (154:5±5:8) ps for the light fragments (Ek=102 MeV, AL=101~111 u) can be obtained.     

Theoretical LSP detection rates for <Superscript>71</Superscript>Ga, <Superscript>73</Superscript>Ge,and <Superscript>127</Superscript>I dark-matter detectors

The low-energy structure of the dark-matter detector nuclei ⁷¹Ga, ⁷³Ge, and ¹²⁷I has been studied by using the microscopic quasiparticle-phonon model. The resulting ground states have been used to calculate theoretical predictions for detection rates of the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) in experiments studying elastic scattering of an LSP from an atomic nucleus. The highest rate, approximately 0.27 yr^?1kg^?1, among all the adopted SUSY parameters and renormalization schemes was provided by ¹²⁷I at the zero limit of the detector energy threshold.     

Study of QGP signatures with the ? → K+K– signal in Pb-Pb ALICE events

The ϕ → K ⁺ K ^– decay channel in Pb-Pb collisions at LHC is studied through a full simulation of the ALICE detector. The study focuses on possible signatures in this channel of quark-gluon plasma (QGP) formation. On a basis of 10⁶ collisions at high centrality some proposed QGP signatures are clearly visible both in K ⁺ K ^– invariant mass and transverse mass distributions. The high significance of this observation appears to reside heavily on the use of the TOF (Time Of Flight) system of ALICE in addition to its central tracking detectors. An erratum to this article is available at .     

Search for solar <Emphasis Type="Italic">pp</Emphasis> neutrinos with an upgrade of CTF detector

The possibility of using ultrapure liquid organic scintillator as a low-energy solar neutrino detector is discussed. The detector with an active volume of 10 t and 4π coverage will count 1.8 pp neutrinos and 5.4 ⁷Be neutrinos per day with an energy threshold of 170 keV for the recoil electrons. The evaluation of the detector sensitivity and backgrounds is based on the results obtained by the Borexino collaboration with the Counting Test Facility (CTF). The detector can be build at the LNGS underground laboratory as an upgrade of the CTF detector using already developed technologies.     

BESⅢ TOF前端读出电子学系统原型设计和实验结果

作为北京谱仪(Beijing Spectrometer, 简称BES)的改造, BESⅢ将把TOF(time-of-flight)测量精度提高到一个新的水平, 总时间分辨不大于90ps. 其中要求前端电子学(Front End Electronics, FEE)对时间测量的不确定性贡献小于25ps. 本文介绍了TOF前端读出电子学系统原型电路的设计和初步的测试结果.     

The measurement of energy spectra of neutral particles in low energy ion scattering

An apparatus is described for low energy (0.1–10 keV) ion scattering (LEIS) experiments. A time of flight (TOF) spectrometer is incorporated in the system to be able to measure the energy of particles in the neutral state after scattering. The energy resolution ΔE/E of the TOF spectrometer is discussed and found to be 0.5% (FWHM). This is sufficient for our scattering experiments. An electrostatic analyzer (ESA) is used to measure the energy of scattered ions [ΔE/E=0.5% (FWHM)]. Experiments show that in general the ion dose needed to obtain a TOF spectrum (2×10¹⁰ ions/cm²) is much smaller than the dose needed for an ESA-spectrum (6×10¹³ ions/cm²). The ion spectra measured with the TOF spectrometer, by subtracting the neutral yield from the total yield, as well as with the ESA are found to agree quite well. This provides a way to calibrate the TOF spectrometer. The determination of the ion fraction of scattered particles is discussed [10 keV⁴⁰Ar⁺ on Cu(100), scattering angle 30°]. It is shown that the TOF spectrometer is able to measure light recoil particles (e.g. hydrogen) from a heavy substrate. In the analysing system is, in addition to the TOF spectrometer, also incorporated a stripping cell to measure the energy of neutral scattered particles. An energy spectrum of neutral scattered particles measured with both methods is shown.     

兰州充气谱仪的焦平面探测系统

在兰州充气谱仪上,设计安装了一套新的焦平面探测系统,该系统包括飞行时间(TOF) 探测器、盒型硅(Si-box) 探测器阵列和反符合(Veto) 探测器3 部分。Si-box 探测器阵列是由3 块位置灵敏硅探测器(PSSD) 和8 块周边硅探测器(SSD) 构成,它对注入核的 衰变的探测效率达到80% 左右。Si-box 探测器阵列与TOF 探测器关联可以有效区分注入信号和 衰变信号。Veto 探测器与Si-box 探测器阵列和TOF 探测器关联可以反符合掉高能轻粒子对注入信号和 衰变信号的干扰。简要介绍了PSSD 的能量和位置刻度方法。这套探测器系统已经应用于40Ca+175Lu 和40Ca+169Tm 的实验。实验结果表明,该探测器系统具备很好的本底抑制能力,能够给出干净的a衰变能谱,结合能量-时间-位置关联测量方法可以实现对单原子的探测和鉴别,总体上达到了预期的设计要求。A new designed focal plane detection system was mounted at the gas-filled recoil separator at Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, which consisted of a time-of-flight (TOF) detector, a silicon-box (Sibox) detector array and a silicon veto detector. Three position sensitive silicon detectors (PSSD) were surrounded by eight side silicon detectors (SSD) without position sensitive, forming a box of the detector open from the front side. The detection efficiency for -decays of implanted nuclei was about 80%. The anticoincidence condition for the signals from the TOF detector and Si-box detector array was used to distinguish between the pulses originating from the implanted nuclei and their -decays. The veto detector information was used to discriminate events due to high-energy charged particles．External energy calibration and position calibration of PSSD are described concisely in this work. This systemhas been used in experiments of 40Ca+175Lu and 40Ca+169Tm. Clean a-decay spectra obtained in these reactions indicated the detection system has a good performance in background suppression. Evaporation residues can be identified by the energy-time-position correlation method. On the whole, the new designed focal plane detection system has achieved thedesign requirements.     

多气隙电阻板室飞行时间谱仪技术

基于多气隙电阻板室(MRPC)技术的飞行时间谱仪广泛应用于现代物理实验,并在粒子鉴别中发挥了重要作用.随着加速器能量和实验亮度的提高,对飞行时间谱仪的粒子计数率和时间分辨要求越来越高.MRPC飞行时间谱仪按技术上可以分成三代.从第一代到第三代,计数率要求越来越高( 30 kHz/cm~2),时间精度也更加严格(20 ps),相应的探测器结构和读出电子学系统呈现出不同的特性.本文总结了三代飞行时间谱仪技术的主要技术特点及主要物理实验,介绍了已经取得的应用成果,提出了该技术的未来发展方向.同时也介绍了MRPC探测器在工业及医学方面的应用.     

Search for resonant absorption of solar axions emitted in an <Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis>1 transition in <Superscript>57</Superscript>Fe nuclei

The resonant absorption of solar axions by ⁵⁷Fe nuclei, which is accompanied by the excitation of the first excited nuclear level: A + ⁵⁷Fe → ⁵⁷Fe* → ⁵⁷Fe + γ(14.4 keV), is sought. To seek 14.4-keV photons, a Si(Li) detector and an enriched ⁵⁷Fe target are used. The detector and target are placed in a low-background setup equipped with passive and active shieldings. As a result, a new upper limit m _A ≤ 360 eV (at 90% C.L.) has been determined for the axion mass.     

Qualitative sims analysis of<Superscript>28,29,30</Superscript>Si isotope concentration in silicon using a Tof.Sims-5 Setup

The possibility of quantitative SIMS determination of^28-30Si isotope concentrations in silicon samples using a TOF.SIMS-5 spectrometer is shown. Th e isotope composition of a large number of Si samples, namely epitaxial Si layers with a natural isotope ratio, amorphous Si films depleted of²⁸Si isotope (deposited on natural Si substrates), and samples enriched with ²⁸Si isotope (manufactured by VITCON) is investigated. Substantial variations in the ²⁹Si/³⁰Si isotope ratio (from 1.51 for the natural content up to 25 in the case of limiting enrichment with ²⁸Si isotope) are revealed.     

PET探测器技术的新进展

PET设备中探测器的研发, 一直是很活跃且具有高创新性的领域。 提高现有基于闪烁晶体探测器的性能, 研究适用于多模式成像设备（PET/CT和PET/MRI）的新型探测器, 满足TOF和DOI技术的需求并促进其发展应用, 构成PET探测器的几个主要研究方向。 介绍了PET探测器在闪烁晶体、 光电探测器和半导体探测器等方面的最新进展, 指出未来最有潜力的探测器设计方案。 The research on PET detector is a very active and highly innovative field. The main research interests of PET detector include improving performances of scintillation crystal detectors, investigating new detectors being suitable for multimodality imaging (e.g., PET/CT and PET/MRI), meeting needs of TOF and DOI technologies in order to promote their development and application. In this paper, new developments in PET detector technology about scintillation crystal, photodetector and semiconductor detector are introduced and the most potential detector design scheme in the future is brought forward.     

Analysis of the Factors that Influence the Time Resolution of TOF in BESⅢ Detector

In TOF measurement, the factors that can increase the time resolution include noise, amplitude measurement error, and the difference of pulse amplitudes and shapes. This article discusses how these factors affect time resolution, and performs quantitative analysis based on the GEANT4 simulation result of the BESⅢ's TOF detector. The result shows that the discriminator level must be selected carefully. To get better time resolution, pulse waveform digitizing is necessary.     

The Time Of Flight (TOF) system of the ALICE experiment

The European Physical Journal C - The double-stack Multigap Resistive Plate Chamber (MRPC) is the detector chosen for the large Time-Of-Flight system of the ALICE experiment at CERN LHC. The TOF...     

Sub‐microsecond‐resolved multi‐speckle X‐ray photon correlation spectroscopy with a pixel array detector

Small‐angle X‐ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS) measurements spanning delay times from 826 ns to 52.8 s were performed using a photon‐counting pixel array detector with a dynamic range of 0–3 (2 bits). Fine resolution and a wide dynamic range of time scales was achieved by combining two modes of operation of the detector: (i) continuous mode, where data acquisition and data readout are performed in parallel with a frame acquisition time of 19.36 µs, and (ii) burst mode, where 12 frames are acquired with frame integration times of either 2.56 µs frame^?1 or 826 ns frame^?1 followed by 3.49 ms or 1.16 ms, respectively, for readout. The applicability of the detector for performing multi‐speckle XPCS was demonstrated by measuring the Brownian dynamics of 10 nm‐radius gold and 57 nm‐radius silica colloids in water at room temperature. In addition, the capability of the detector to faithfully record one‐ and two‐photon counts was examined by comparing the statistical distribution of photon counts with expected probabilities from the negative binomial distribution. It was found that in burst mode the ratio of 2 s to 1 s is markedly smaller than predicted and that this is attributable to pixel‐response dead‐time.     

A gas‐filled electroluminescence detector for EDXRF Spectrometry

The design and features of a sealed‐off proportional scintillation gas‐filled detector (GSPC) are described. The use of a 50 µm Be window and an Xe‐based gas mixture provides high efficiency of registration in the range 1.5–25 keV. The energy resolution changes from 18% for Al Kα (1.49 keV) to 4.2% for Ag Kα (22.2 keV). When the count rate on the unit output is 5 × 10⁴ s^?1, the energy resolution at the Mn Kα line does not exceed 9% at an entrance window area near 3 cm 2 . The detector is operated at room temperature and does not require maintenance during operation. The service life of the detector is over 5 years and the radiation lifetime is practically unlimited. The detector is designed for use in EDXRF spectrometers instead of gas‐filled proportional counters. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Performance of a four‐element Si drift detector for X‐ray absorption fine‐structure spectroscopy: resolution, maximum count rate,and dead‐time correction with incorporation into the ATHENA data analysis software

The performance of a four‐element Si drift detector for energy‐dispersive fluorescence‐yield X‐ray absorption fine‐structure measurements is reported, operating at the National Institute of Standards and Technology beamline X23A2 at the National Synchrotron Light Source. The detector can acquire X‐ray absorption fine‐structure spectra with a throughput exceeding 4 × 10⁵ counts per second per detector element (>1.6 × 10⁶ total counts per second summed over all four channels). At this count rate the resolution at 6 keV is approximately 220 eV, which adequately resolves the Mn Kα and Kβ fluorescence lines. Accurate dead‐time correction is demonstrated, and it has been incorporated into the ATHENA data analysis program. To maintain counting efficiency and high signal to background, it is suggested that the incoming count rate should not exceed ～70% of the maximum throughput.     

Fast forward detector for MPD/NICA project: Concept, simulation, and prototyping

Concept of a fast forward detector (FFD) developed as part of Multi-Purpose Detector (MPD) setup for future experiments with beams of nuclear collider NICA is described. The FFD is aimed at triggering nucleus-nucleus collisions at the center of the MPD setup and generating start pulse for TOF detector. Two units of the detector module were designed, produced, and tested with cosmic rays and proton beam. The time resolution obtained in the measurements is ～30 ps (sigma). Results of simulation, prototype developing and experimental tests are discussed.