Frontend electronics for high-precision single photo-electron timing using FPGA-TDCs

Cardinali, M. et al. (2014) Frontend electronics for high-precision single photo-electron timing using FPGA-TDCs. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors, and Associated Equipment, 766, pp. 231-234. (doi: 10.1016/j.nima.2014.04.071)

Abstract

The next generation of high-luminosity experiments requires excellent particle identification detectors which calls for Imaging Cherenkov counters with fast electronics to cope with the expected hit rates. A Barrel DIRC will be used in the central region of the Target Spectrometer of the planned PANDA experiment at FAIR. A single photo-electron timing resolution of better than 100 ps is required by the Barrel DIRC to disentangle the complicated patterns created on the image plane. R&D studies have been performed to provide a design based on the TRB3 readout using FPGA-TDCs with a precision better than 20 ps RMS and custom frontend electronics with high-bandwidth pre-amplifiers and fast discriminators. The discriminators also provide time-over-threshold information thus enabling walk corrections to improve the timing resolution. Two types of frontend electronics cards optimised for reading out 64-channel PHOTONIS Planacon MCP-PMTs were tested: one based on the NINO ASIC and the other, called PADIWA, on FPGA discriminators. Promising results were obtained in a full characterisation using a fast laser setup and in a test experiment at MAMI, Mainz, with a small scale DIRC prototype.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Montgomery, Dr Rachel and Cowie, Dr Euan and Rosner, Professor Guenther
• Authors: Cardinali, M., Dzyhgadlo, R., Gerhardt, A., Götzen, K., Hohler, R., Kalicy, G., Kumawat, H., Lehmann, D., Lewandowski, B., Patsyuk, M., Peters, K., Schepers, G., Schmitt, L., Schwarz, C., Schwiening, J., Traxler, M., Ugur, C., Zühlsdorf, M., Dodokhov, V.K., Britting, A., Eyrich, W., Lehmann, A., Uhlig, F., Düren, M., Föhl, K., Hayrapetyan, A., Kröck, B., Merle, O., Rieke, J., Cowie, E., Keri, T., Montgomery, R., Rosner, G., Achenbach, P., Corell, O., Ferretti Bondy, M.I., Hoek, M., Lauth, W., Rosner, C., Sfienti, C., Thiel, M., Bühler, P., Gruber, L., Marton, J., and Suzuki, K.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy
• Journal Name: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors, and Associated Equipment
• Publisher: Elsevier BV
• ISSN: 0168-9002
• ISSN (Online): 1872-9576