Contactless 2-dimensional laser sensor for 3-dimensional wire position and tension measurements

We have developed a contact-free 2-dimensional laser sensor with which the position of wires can be measured in 3 dimensions with an accuracy of better than 10 micrometer and with which the tension of the wires can be determined with an accuracy of 0.04 N. These measurements can be made from a distance of 15 cm. The sensor consists of commercially available laser pointers, lenses, color filters and photodiodes. In our application we have used this laser sensor together with an automated 3 dimensional coordinate table. For a single position measurement, the laser sensor is moved by the 3-dimensional coordinate table in a plane and determines the coordinates at which the wires intersect with this plane. The position of the plane itself (the third coordinate) is given by the third axis of the measurement table which is perpendicular to this plane. The control and readout of the table and the readout of the laser sensor were realized with LabVIEW. The precision of the position measurement in the plane was determined with wires of 0.2 mm and 0.3 mm diameter. We use the sensor for the quality assurance of the wire electrode modules for the KATRIN neutrino mass experiment. We expect that the precision is at least comparable or better if the wires are thinner. Such a device could be well suited for the measurement of wire chamber geometries even with more than one wire layer.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure

APDs as Single-Photon Detectors for Visible and Near-Infrared Wavelenghts down to Hz Rates

For the SPECTRAP experiment at GSI, Germany, detectors with Single-Photon counting capability in the visible and near-infrared regime are required. For the wavelength region up to 1100 nm we investigate the performance of 2x2 mm^2 avalanche photo diodes (APDs) of type S0223 manufactured by Radiation Monitoring Devices. To minimize thermal noise, the APDs are cooled to approximately -170 deg. C using liquid nitrogen. By operating the diodes close to the breakdown voltage it is possible to achieve relative gains in excess of 2x10^4. Custom-made low noise preamplifiers are used to read out the devices. The measurements presented in this paper have been obtained at a relative gain of 2.2x10^4. At a discriminator threshold of 6 mV the resulting dark count rate is in the region of 230/s. With these settings the studied APDs are able to detect single photons at 628 nm wavelength with a photo detection efficiency of (67+-7)%. Measurements at 1020 nm wavelength have been performed using the attenuated output of a grating spectrograph with a light bulb as photon source. With this setup the photo detection efficiency at 1020 nm has been determined to be (13+-3)%, again at a threshold of 6 mV.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Journal of Instrumentatio

APDs as Single-Photon Detectors for Visible and Near-Infrared Wavelenghts down to Hz Rates

For the SPECTRAP experiment at GSI, Germany, detectors with Single-Photon counting capability in the visible and near-infrared regime are required. For the wavelength region up to 1100 nm we investigate the performance of 2x2 mm^2 avalanche photo diodes (APDs) of type S0223 manufactured by Radiation Monitoring Devices. To minimize thermal noise, the APDs are cooled to approximately -170 deg. C using liquid nitrogen. By operating the diodes close to the breakdown voltage it is possible to achieve relative gains in excess of 2x10^4. Custom-made low noise preamplifiers are used to read out the devices. The measurements presented in this paper have been obtained at a relative gain of 2.2x10^4. At a discriminator threshold of 6 mV the resulting dark count rate is in the region of 230/s. With these settings the studied APDs are able to detect single photons at 628 nm wavelength with a photo detection efficiency of (67+-7)%. Measurements at 1020 nm wavelength have been performed using the attenuated output of a grating spectrograph with a light bulb as photon source. With this setup the photo detection efficiency at 1020 nm has been determined to be (13+-3)%, again at a threshold of 6 mV.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Journal of Instrumentatio

APDs as Single-Photon Detectors for Visible and Near-Infrared Wavelenghts down to Hz Rates

For the SPECTRAP experiment at GSI, Germany, detectors with Single-Photon counting capability in the visible and near-infrared regime are required. For the wavelength region up to 1100 nm we investigate the performance of 2x2 mm^2 avalanche photo diodes (APDs) of type S0223 manufactured by Radiation Monitoring Devices. To minimize thermal noise, the APDs are cooled to approximately -170 deg. C using liquid nitrogen. By operating the diodes close to the breakdown voltage it is possible to achieve relative gains in excess of 2x10^4. Custom-made low noise preamplifiers are used to read out the devices. The measurements presented in this paper have been obtained at a relative gain of 2.2x10^4. At a discriminator threshold of 6 mV the resulting dark count rate is in the region of 230/s. With these settings the studied APDs are able to detect single photons at 628 nm wavelength with a photo detection efficiency of (67+-7)%. Measurements at 1020 nm wavelength have been performed using the attenuated output of a grating spectrograph with a light bulb as photon source. With this setup the photo detection efficiency at 1020 nm has been determined to be (13+-3)%, again at a threshold of 6 mV.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Journal of Instrumentatio

Electro-purification studies and first measurement of relative permittivity of TMBi

A new type of detector for positron-emission tomography (PET) has been proposed recently, using a heavy organo-metallic liquid - TriMethyl Bismuth (TMBi) - as target material. TMBi is a transparent liquid with the high Z element Bismuth contributing 82% of its mass. 511keV annihilation photons are converted efficiently into photo-electrons within the detector material producing both Cherenkov light and free charge carriers in the liquid. While the optical component enables a fast timing, a charge readout using a segmented anode can provide an accurate position reconstruction and energy determination. The charge measurement requires a high level of purification, as any electronegative contaminants cause signal degradation. In addition to the purity requirements, the reactive nature of TMBi poses many challenges that need to be met until a fully functioning detector for PET applications can be realized. The paper presents an experimental setup that aims to remove electronegative impurities by electrostatic filtering and to characterise the properties of TMBi, e.g. the relative permittivity, for its application as a detector medium for charge read out

A pulsed, mono-energetic and angular-selective UV photo-electron source for the commissioning of the KATRIN experiment

The KATRIN experiment aims to determine the neutrino mass scale with a sensitivity of 200 meV/c^2 (90% C.L.) by a precision measurement of the shape of the tritium $\beta$-spectrum in the endpoint region. The energy analysis of the decay electrons is achieved by a MAC-E filter spectrometer. To determine the transmission properties of the KATRIN main spectrometer, a mono-energetic and angular-selective electron source has been developed. In preparation for the second commissioning phase of the main spectrometer, a measurement phase was carried out at the KATRIN monitor spectrometer where the device was operated in a MAC-E filter setup for testing. The results of these measurements are compared with simulations using the particle-tracking software "Kassiopeia", which was developed in the KATRIN collaboration over recent years.Comment: 19 pages, 16 figures, submitted to European Physical Journal

An active transverse energy filter to differentiate low energy particles with large pitch angles in a strong magnetic field

We present the idea and proof of principle measurements for an angular-selective active filter for charged particles. The motivation for the setup arises from the need to distinguish background electrons from signal electrons in a spectrometer of MAC-E filter type. While a large fraction of the background electrons exhibit predominantly small angles relative to the magnetic guiding field (corresponding to a low amount of kinetic energy in the motion component transverse to the field lines, in the following referred to as transverse energy) and pass the filter mostly unhindered, signal electrons from an isotropically emitting source interact with the active filter and are detected. The concept is demonstrated using a microchannel plate (MCP) as an active filter element. When correctly aligned with the magnetic field, electrons with a small transverse energy pass the channels of the MCP without interaction while electrons with large transverse energies hit the channel walls and trigger an avalanche of secondary electrons that is subsequently detected. Due to several drawbacks of MCPs for an actual transverse energy filter, an alternative detection technique using microstructured Si-PIN diodes is proposed