21 research outputs found

    A 96-Channel FPGA-based Time-to-Digital Converter

    Full text link
    We describe an FPGA-based, 96-channel, time-to-digital converter (TDC) intended for use with the Central Outer Tracker (COT) in the CDF Experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron. The COT system is digitized and read out by 315 TDC cards, each serving 96 wires of the chamber. The TDC is physically configured as a 9U VME card. The functionality is almost entirely programmed in firmware in two Altera Stratix FPGA's. The special capabilities of this device are the availability of 840 MHz LVDS inputs, multiple phase-locked clock modules, and abundant memory. The TDC system operates with an input resolution of 1.2 ns. Each input can accept up to 7 hits per collision. The time-to-digital conversion is done by first sampling each of the 96 inputs in 1.2-ns bins and filling a circular memory; the memory addresses of logical transitions (edges) in the input data are then translated into the time of arrival and width of the COT pulses. Memory pipelines with a depth of 5.5 μ\mus allow deadtime-less operation in the first-level trigger. The TDC VME interface allows a 64-bit Chain Block Transfer of multiple boards in a crate with transfer-rates up to 47 Mbytes/sec. The TDC also contains a separately-programmed data path that produces prompt trigger data every Tevatron crossing. The full TDC design and multi-card test results are described. The physical simplicity ensures low-maintenance; the functionality being in firmware allows reprogramming for other applications.Comment: 32 pages, 13 figure

    Position Measurements with Micro-Channel Plates and Transmission lines using Pico-second Timing and Waveform Analysis

    Get PDF
    The anodes of Micro-Channel Plate devices are coupled to fast transmission lines in order to reduce the number of electronics readout channels, and can provide two-dimension position measurements using two-ends delay timing. Tests with a laser and digital waveform analysis show that resolutions of a few hundreds of microns along the transmission line can be reached taking advantage of a few pico-second timing estimation. This technique is planned to be used in Micro-channel Plate devices integrating the transmission lines as anodes

    Performance of a large scale prototype of the ATLAS accordion electromagnetic calorimeter

    Get PDF
    A 2 m long prototype of a lead-liquid argon electromagnetic calorimeter with accordion-shaped electrodes, conceived as a sector of the barrel calorimeter of the future ATLAS experiment at the LHC, has been tested with electron and pion beams in the energy range 10 to 287 GeV. A sampling term of 10%/root E(GeV) was obtained for electrons in the rapidity range 0 < eta < 1, while the constant term measured over an area of about 1 m(2) is 0.69%. With a cell size of 2.7 cm the position resolution is. about 4 mm/root E(GeV)

    Performance of an endcap prototype of the ATLAS accordion electromagnetic calorimeter

    Get PDF
    The design and construction of a lead-liquid argon endcap calorimeter prototype using an accordion geometry and conceived as a sector of the inner wheel of the endcap calorimeter of the future ATLAS experiment at the LHC is described. The performance obtained using electron beam data is presented. The main results are an energy resolution with a sampling term below 11%/E(GeV)11\%/\sqrt{E(\rm GeV)} and a small local constant term, a good linearity of the response with the incident energy and a global constant term of 0.8\% over an extended area in the rapidity range of 2.2<η<2.92.2 < \eta <2.9. These properties make the design suitable for the ATLAS electromagnetic endcap calorimeter

    Construction and test of a fine-grained liquid argon preshower prototype

    Get PDF
    A separate liquid argon preshower detector consisting of two layers featuring a fine granularity of 2.5~103^{\mathrm{-3}} was studied by the RD3 collaboration. A prototype covering approximately 0.8 in pseudo-rapidity and 9 degrees in azimuth was built and tested at CERN in July 94. CMOS and GaAs VLSI preamplifiers were designed and tested for this occasion. The combined response of this detector and an accordion electromagnetic calorimeter prototype to muons, electrons and photons is presented. For minimum ionizing tracks a signal-to-noise ratio of 4.5 per preshower layer was measured. Above 150~GeV the space resolution for electrons is better than 250~μ\mum in both directions. The precision on the electromagnetic shower direction, determined together with the calorimeter, is better than 4 mrad above 50~GeV. It is concluded that the preshower detector would adequately fulfil its role for future operation at CERN Large Hadron Collider

    Test beam results of a stereo preshower integrated in the liquid argon accordion calorimeter

    Get PDF
    This paper describes the construction of an integrated preshower within the RD3 liquid argon accordion calorimeter. It has a stereo view which enables the measurement of two transverse coordinates. The prototype was tested at CERN with electrons, photons and muons to validate its capability to work at LHC ( Energy resolution, impact point resolution, angular resolution, πo\pi^o/γ\gamma rejection )
    corecore