TORCH—a Cherenkov based time-of-flight detector

van Dijk, M.W.U. et al. (2014) TORCH—a Cherenkov based time-of-flight detector. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors, and Associated Equipment, 766, pp. 118-122. (doi: 10.1016/j.nima.2014.04.083)

Abstract

TORCH is an innovative high-precision time-of-flight system to provide particle identification in the difficult intermediate momentum region up to 10 GeV/c. It is also suitable for large-area applications. The detector provides a time-of-flight measurement from the imaging of Cherenkov photons emitted in a 1 cm thick quartz radiator. The photons propagate by total internal reflection to the edge of the quartz plate and are then focused onto an array of photon detectors at the periphery. A time-of-flight resolution of about 10–15 ps per incident charged particle needs to be achieved to allow a three sigma kaon-pion separation up to 10 GeV/c momentum for the TORCH located 9.5 m from the interaction point. Given ~30 detected photons per incident charged particle, this requires measuring the time-of-arrival of individual photons to about 70 ps. This paper will describe the design of a TORCH prototype involving a number of ground-breaking and challenging techniques.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Cowie, Dr Euan
• Authors: van Dijk, M.W.U., Brook, N.H., Castillo García, L., Cowie, E.N., Cussans, D., D׳Ambrosio, C., Fopma, J., Forty, R., Frei, C., Gao, R., Gys, T., Harnew, N., Keri, T., and Piedigrossi, D.
• 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 B.V.
• ISSN: 0168-9002
• ISSN (Online): 1872-9576
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V.
• First Published: First published in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors, and Associated Equipment 766:118-122
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License