Performance of a GridPix detector based on the Timepix3 chip

A GridPix readout for a TPC based on the Timepix3 chip is developed for future applications at a linear collider. The GridPix detector consists of a gaseous drift volume read out by a single Timepix3 chip with an integrated amplification grid. Its performance is studied in a test beam with 2.5 GeV electrons. The GridPix detector detects single ionization electrons with high efficiency. The Timepix3 chip allowed for high sample rates and time walk corrections. Diffusion is found to be the dominating error on the track position measurement both in the pixel plane and in the drift direction, and systematic distortions in the pixel plane are below 10 $\mu$m. Using a truncated sum, an energy loss (dE/dx) resolution of 4.1% is found for an effective track length of 1 m.Comment: To be published in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section

Timing performance of the Timepix4 front-end

A characterisation of the Timepix4 pixel front-end with a strong focus on timing performance is presented. Externally generated test pulses were used to probe the per-pixel time-to-digital converter (TDC) and measure the time-bin sizes by precisely controlling the test-pulse arrival time in steps of 10 ps. The results indicate that the TDC can achieve a time resolution of 60 ps, provided that a calibration is performed to compensate for frequency variation in the voltage controlled oscillators of the pixel TDCs. The internal clock distribution system of Timepix4 was used to control the arrival time of internally generated analog test pulses in steps of about 20 ps. The analog test pulse mechanism injects a controlled amount of charge directly into the analog front-end (AFE) of the pixel, and was used to measure the time resolution as a function of signal charge, independently of the TDC. It was shown that for the default configuration, the AFE time resolution in the hole-collecting mode is limited to 105 ps. However, this can be improved up to about 60 ps by increasing the preamplifier bias-current at the cost of increased power dissipation. For the electron-collecting mode, an AFE time resolution of 47 ps was measured for a bare Timepix4 device at a signal charge of 21 ke. It was observed that additional input capacitance from a bonded sensor reduces this figure to 62 ps

Timing measurements with a 3D silicon sensor on Timepix3 in a 180 GeV/<i>c</i> hadron beam

Test beam measurements have been carried out with a 3D sensor on a Timepix3 ASIC and the time measurements are presented. The measurements are compared to those of a thin planar sensor on Timepix3. It is shown that for a perpendicularly incident beam the time resolution of both detectors is dominated by the Timepix3 front-end. The 3D detector is dominated by the time-to-digital conversion whereas the analog front-end jitter also gives a significant contribution for the thin planar detector. The 3D detector reaches an overall time resolution of 567 ± 6 ps compared to 683 ± 8 ps for the thin planar detector. For a grazing angle beam, however, the thin planar detector achieves a better time resolution because it has a lower pixel capacitance, and therefore suffers less from jitter in the analog front-end for the low charge signals that mainly occur in this type of measurement. Finally, it is also shown that the 3D and thin planar detector can achieve time resolutions for large clusters of about 100 ps and 250 ps, respectively, by combining many single hit measurements

Timing performance of the LHCb VELO Timepix3 Telescope

We performed a detailed study of the timing performance of the LHCb VELO Timepix3 Telescope with a 180 GeV/c mixed hadron beam at the CERN SPS. A twofold method was developed to improve the resolution of single-plane time measurements, resulting in a more precise overall track time measurement. The first step uses spatial information of reconstructed tracks in combination with the measured signal charge in the sensor to correct for a mixture of different effects: variations in charge carrier drift time; variations in signal induction, which are the result of a non-uniform weighting field in the pixels; and lastly, timewalk in the analog front-end. The second step corrects for systematic timing offsets in Timepix3 that vary from -2 ns to 2 ns. By applying this method, we improved the track time resolution from 438$\,\pm\,$16 ps to 276$\,\pm\,$4 ps

Charge collection properties of prototype sensors for the LHCb VELO upgrade

An extensive sensor testing campaign is presented, dedicated to measuring the charge collection properties of prototype candidates for the Vertex Locator (VELO) detector for the upgraded LHCb experiment. The charge collection is measured with sensors exposed to fluences of up to $8 \times 10^{15}~1~\mathrm{\,Me\kern -0.1em V}~ \mathrm{ \,n_{eq}}~{\mathrm{ \,cm}}^{-2}$, as well as with nonirradiated prototypes. The results are discussed, including the influence of different levels of irradiation and bias voltage on the charge collection properties. Charge multiplication is observed on some sensors that were nonuniformly irradiated with 24 GeV protons, to the highest fluence levels. An analysis of the charge collection near the guard ring region is also presented, revealing significant differences between the sensor prototypes. All tested sensor variants succeed in collecting the minimum required charge of 6000 electrons after the exposure to the maximum fluence

Studies of η\eta and η′\eta' production in pppp and ppPb collisions

The production of $\eta$ and $\eta'$ mesons is studied in proton-proton and proton-lead collisions collected with the LHCb detector. Proton-proton collisions are studied at center-of-mass energies of $5.02$ and $13~{\rm TeV}$, and proton-lead collisions are studied at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon of $8.16~{\rm TeV}$. The studies are performed in center-of-mass rapidity regions $2.5<y_{\rm c.m.}<3.5$ (forward rapidity) and $-4.0<y_{\rm c.m.}<-3.0$ (backward rapidity) defined relative to the proton beam direction. The $\eta$ and $\eta'$ production cross sections are measured differentially as a function of transverse momentum for $1.5<p_{\rm T}<10~{\rm GeV}$ and $3<p_{\rm T}<10~{\rm GeV}$, respectively. The differential cross sections are used to calculate nuclear modification factors. The nuclear modification factors for $\eta$ and $\eta'$ mesons agree at both forward and backward rapidity, showing no significant evidence of mass dependence. The differential cross sections of $\eta$ mesons are also used to calculate $\eta/\pi^0$ cross section ratios, which show evidence of a deviation from the world average. These studies offer new constraints on mass-dependent nuclear effects in heavy-ion collisions, as well as $\eta$ and $\eta'$ meson fragmentation.Comment: All figures and tables, along with machine-readable versions and any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://lhcbproject.web.cern.ch/Publications/p/LHCb-PAPER-2023-030.html (LHCb public pages