Current mode monolithic active pixel sensor with correlated double sampling for charged particle detection

A monolithic active pixel sensor operating in current mode for charged particle detection is described. The sensing element in each pixel is an n-well/p-sub diode with a PMOS transistor integrated in an n-well. The drop of the n-well potential from the collection of charge modulates the transistor channel current. Each pixel features two current mode memory cells. The subtraction of distant-in-time samples frees the signal of fixed pattern noise (FPN) and of the correlated low-frequency temporal noise components, resulting in extraction of the particle footprint. The subtraction circuits are placed at each column end. A transimpedance amplifier, integrating in sequence two current samples and subtracting the results in an arithmetic operation, was adopted. The integrated version of the transimpedance amplifier, designed with a maximized conversion gain, is burdened by a risk of an early saturation, imperiling its operation, if the dispersions of the dc current component are too big. The degree of dispersions could not be estimated during the design. Some number of columns is available as a backup with the direct current readout. An external realization of the subtracting circuit, based on the same principle, is used to process direct output columns. The concept of the data acquisition setup developed, the tested performance of an array of cells, and the processing circuitry are described

Lifetime studies of 130nm nMOS transistors intended for long-duration, cryogenic high-energy physics experiments

Future neutrino physics experiments intend to use unprecedented volumes of liquid argon to fill a time projection chamber in an underground facility. To increase performance, integrated readout electronics should work inside the cryostat. Due to the scale and cost associated with evacuating and filling the cryostat, the electronics will be unserviceable for the duration of the experiment. Therefore, the lifetimes of these circuits must be well in excess of 20 years. The principle mechanism for lifetime degradation of MOSFET devices and circuits operating at cryogenic temperatures is via hot carrier degradation. Choosing a process technology that is, as much as possible, immune to such degradation and developing design techniques to avoid exposure to such damage are the goals. This requires careful investigation and a basic understanding of the mechanisms that underlie hot carrier degradation and the secondary effects they cause in circuits. In this work, commercially available 130nm nMOS transistors operating at cryogenic temperatures are investigated. The results show that the difference in lifetime for room temperature operation and cryogenic operation for this process are not great and the lifetimes at both 300K and at 77K can be projected to more than 20 years at the nominal voltage (1.5V) for this technology

ATHENA detector proposal — a totally hermetic electron nucleus apparatus proposed for IP6 at the Electron-Ion Collider

ATHENA has been designed as a general purpose detector capable of delivering the full scientific scope of the Electron-Ion Collider. Careful technology choices provide fine tracking and momentum resolution, high performance electromagnetic and hadronic calorimetry, hadron identification over a wide kinematic range, and near-complete hermeticity. This article describes the detector design and its expected performance in the most relevant physics channels. It includes an evaluation of detector technology choices, the technical challenges to realizing the detector and the R&D required to meet those challenges

Highly-parallelized simulation of a pixelated LArTPC on a GPU

The rapid development of general-purpose computing on graphics processing units (GPGPU) is allowing the implementation of highly-parallelized Monte Carlo simulation chains for particle physics experiments. This technique is particularly suitable for the simulation of a pixelated charge readout for time projection chambers, given the large number of channels that this technology employs. Here we present the first implementation of a full microphysical simulator of a liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) equipped with light readout and pixelated charge readout, developed for the DUNE Near Detector. The software is implemented with an end-to-end set of GPU-optimized algorithms. The algorithms have been written in Python and translated into CUDA kernels using Numba, a just-in-time compiler for a subset of Python and NumPy instructions. The GPU implementation achieves a speed up of four orders of magnitude compared with the equivalent CPU version. The simulation of the current induced on 10^3 pixels takes around 1 ms on the GPU, compared with approximately 10 s on the CPU. The results of the simulation are compared against data from a pixel-readout LArTPC prototype

ATHENA detector proposal — a totally hermetic electron nucleus apparatus proposed for IP6 at the Electron-Ion Collider

International audienceATHENA has been designed as a general purpose detector capable of delivering the full scientific scope of the Electron-Ion Collider. Careful technology choices provide fine tracking and momentum resolution, high performance electromagnetic and hadronic calorimetry, hadron identification over a wide kinematic range, and near-complete hermeticity. This article describes the detector design and its expected performance in the most relevant physics channels. It includes an evaluation of detector technology choices, the technical challenges to realizing the detector and the R&D required to meet those challenges

ATHENA detector proposal — a totally hermetic electron nucleus apparatus proposed for IP6 at the Electron-Ion Collider

International audienceATHENA has been designed as a general purpose detector capable of delivering the full scientific scope of the Electron-Ion Collider. Careful technology choices provide fine tracking and momentum resolution, high performance electromagnetic and hadronic calorimetry, hadron identification over a wide kinematic range, and near-complete hermeticity. This article describes the detector design and its expected performance in the most relevant physics channels. It includes an evaluation of detector technology choices, the technical challenges to realizing the detector and the R&D required to meet those challenges

ATHENA detector proposal — a totally hermetic electron nucleus apparatus proposed for IP6 at the Electron-Ion Collider

International audienceATHENA has been designed as a general purpose detector capable of delivering the full scientific scope of the Electron-Ion Collider. Careful technology choices provide fine tracking and momentum resolution, high performance electromagnetic and hadronic calorimetry, hadron identification over a wide kinematic range, and near-complete hermeticity. This article describes the detector design and its expected performance in the most relevant physics channels. It includes an evaluation of detector technology choices, the technical challenges to realizing the detector and the R&D required to meet those challenges

Deep underground neutrino experiment (DUNE) near detector conceptual design report

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is an international, world-class experiment aimed at exploring fundamental questions about the universe that are at the forefront of astrophysics and particle physics research. DUNE will study questions pertaining to the preponderance of matter over antimatter in the early universe, the dynamics of supernovae, the subtleties of neutrino interaction physics, and a number of beyond the Standard Model topics accessible in a powerful neutrino beam. A critical component of the DUNE physics program involves the study of changes in a powerful beam of neutrinos, i.e., neutrino oscillations, as the neutrinos propagate a long distance. The experiment consists of a near detector, sited close to the source of the beam, and a far detector, sited along the beam at a large distance. This document, the DUNE Near Detector Conceptual Design Report (CDR), describes the design of the DUNE near detector and the science program that drives the design and technology choices. The goals and requirements underlying the design, along with projected performance are given. It serves as a starting point for a more detailed design that will be described in future documents. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Snowmass Neutrino Frontier: DUNE Physics Summary

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a next-generation long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment with a primary physics goal of observing neutrino and antineutrino oscillation patterns to precisely measure the parameters governing long-baseline neutrino oscillation in a single experiment, and to test the three-flavor paradigm. DUNE's design has been developed by a large, international collaboration of scientists and engineers to have unique capability to measure neutrino oscillation as a function of energy in a broadband beam, to resolve degeneracy among oscillation parameters, and to control systematic uncertainty using the exquisite imaging capability of massive LArTPC far detector modules and an argon-based near detector. DUNE's neutrino oscillation measurements will unambiguously resolve the neutrino mass ordering and provide the sensitivity to discover CP violation in neutrinos for a wide range of possible values of $\delta_{CP}$. DUNE is also uniquely sensitive to electron neutrinos from a galactic supernova burst, and to a broad range of physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM), including nucleon decays. DUNE is anticipated to begin collecting physics data with Phase I, an initial experiment configuration consisting of two far detector modules and a minimal suite of near detector components, with a 1.2 MW proton beam. To realize its extensive, world-leading physics potential requires the full scope of DUNE be completed in Phase II. The three Phase II upgrades are all necessary to achieve DUNE's physics goals: (1) addition of far detector modules three and four for a total FD fiducial mass of at least 40 kt, (2) upgrade of the proton beam power from 1.2 MW to 2.4 MW, and (3) replacement of the near detector's temporary muon spectrometer with a magnetized, high-pressure gaseous argon TPC and calorimeter

A Gaseous Argon-Based Near Detector to Enhance the Physics Capabilities of DUNE

This document presents the concept and physics case for a magnetized gaseous argon-based detector system (ND-GAr) for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) Near Detector. This detector system is required in order for DUNE to reach its full physics potential in the measurement of CP violation and in delivering precision measurements of oscillation parameters. In addition to its critical role in the long-baseline oscillation program, ND-GAr will extend the overall physics program of DUNE. The LBNF high-intensity proton beam will provide a large flux of neutrinos that is sampled by ND-GAr, enabling DUNE to discover new particles and search for new interactions and symmetries beyond those predicted in the Standard Model