251 research outputs found
High Voltage CMOS Control Interface for Astronomy - Grade Charged Coupled Devices
The Pan-STARRS telescope consists of an array of smaller mirrors viewed by a
Gigapixel arrays of CCDs. These focal planes employ Orthogonal Transfer CCDs
(OTCCDs) to allow on-chip image stabilization. Each OTCCD has advanced logic
features that are controlled externally. A CMOS Interface Device for High
Voltage has been developed to provide the appropiate voltage signal levels from
a readout and control system designated STARGRASP. OTCCD chip output levels
range from -3.3V to 16.7V, with two different output drive strenghts required
depending on load capacitance (50pF and 1000pF), with 24mA of drive and a rise
time on the order of 100ns. Additional testing ADC structures have been
included in this chip to evaluate future functional additions for a next
version of the chip.Comment: 13 pages, 17 gigure
Geant4 Simulation of a filtered X-ray Source for Radiation Damage Studies
Geant4 low energy extensions have been used to simulate the X-ray spectra of
industrial X-ray tubes with filters for removing the uncertain low energy part
of the spectrum in a controlled way. The results are compared with precisely
measured X-ray spectra using a silicon drift detector. Furthermore, this paper
shows how the different dose rates in silicon and silicon dioxide layers of an
electronic device can be deduced from the simulations
A Monolithic Time Stretcher for Precision Time Recording
Identifying light mesons which contain only up/down quarks (pions) from those
containing a strange quark (kaons) over the typical meter length scales of a
particle physics detector requires instrumentation capable of measuring flight
times with a resolution on the order of 20ps. In the last few years a large
number of inexpensive, multi-channel Time-to-Digital Converter (TDC) chips have
become available. These devices typically have timing resolution performance in
the hundreds of ps regime. A technique is presented that is a monolithic
version of ``time stretcher'' solution adopted for the Belle Time-Of-Flight
system to address this gap between resolution need and intrinsic multi-hit TDC
performance.Comment: 9 pages, 15 figures, minor corrections made, to appear as JINST_008
An imaging time-of-propagation system for charged particle identification at a super B factory
Super B factories that will further probe the flavor sector of the Standard
Model and physics beyond will demand excellent charged particle identification
(PID), particularly K/pi separation, for momenta up to 4 GeV/c, as well as the
ability to operate under beam backgrounds significantly higher than current B
factory experiments. We describe an Imaging Time-of-Propagation (iTOP) detector
which shows significant potential to meet these requirements. Photons emitted
from charged particle interactions in a Cerenkov radiator bar are internally
reflected to the end of the bar, where they are collected on a compact image
plane using photodetectors with fine spatial segmentation in two dimensions.
Precision measurements of photon arrival time are used to enhance the two
dimensional imaging, allowing the system to provide excellent PID capabilities
within a reduced detector envelope. Results of the ongoing optimization of the
geometric and physical properties of such a detector are presented, as well as
simulated PID performance. Validation of simulations is being performed using a
prototype in a cosmic ray test stand at the University of Hawaii.Comment: 3 pages, 5 figures, submitted to TIPP09 proceeding
Observations of Microwave Continuum Emission from Air Shower Plasmas
We investigate a possible new technique for microwave measurements of
ultra-high energy cosmic ray (UHECR) extensive air showers which relies on
detection of expected continuum radiation in the microwave range, caused by
free-electron collisions with neutrals in the tenuous plasma left after the
passage of the shower. We performed an initial experiment at the AWA (Argonne
Wakefield Accelerator) laboratory in 2003 and measured broadband microwave
emission from air ionized via high energy electrons and photons. A follow-up
experiment at SLAC (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center) in summer of 2004
confirmed the major features of the previous AWA observations with better
precision and made additional measurements relevant to the calorimetric
capabilities of the method. Prompted by these results we built a prototype
detector using satellite television technology, and have made measurements
indicating possible detection of cosmic ray extensive air showers. The method,
if confirmed by experiments now in progress, could provide a high-duty cycle
complement to current nitrogen fluorescence observations of UHECR, which are
limited to dark, clear nights. By contrast, decimeter microwave observations
can be made both night and day, in clear or cloudy weather, or even in the
presence of moderate precipitation.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figure
TARGET: A multi-channel digitizer chip for very-high-energy gamma-ray telescopes
The next-generation very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray observatory, the
Cherenkov Telescope Array, will feature dozens of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov
telescopes (IACTs), each with thousands of pixels of photo-sensors. To be
affordable and reliable, reading out such a mega-channel array requires event
recording technology that is highly integrated and modular, with a low cost per
channel. We present the design and performance of a chip targeted to this
application: the TeV Array Readout with GSa/s sampling and Event Trigger
(TARGET). This application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) has 16 parallel
input channels, a 4096-sample buffer for each channel, adjustable input
termination, self-trigger functionality, and tight window-selected readout. We
report the performance of TARGET in terms of sampling frequency, power
consumption, dynamic range, current-mode gain, analog bandwidth, and cross
talk. The large number of channels per chip allows a low cost per channel (\10
to \20 including front-end and back-end electronics but not including
photosensors) to be achieved with a TARGET-based IACT readout system. In
addition to basic performance parameters of the TARGET chip itself, we present
a camera module prototype as well as a second-generation chip (TARGET~2), both
of which have been produced.Comment: 16 pages, 15 figures, version 3 (matches version published in
Astroparticle Physics
Observations of the Askaryan Effect in Ice
We report on the first observations of the Askaryan effect in ice: coherent
impulsive radio Cherenkov radiation from the charge asymmetry in an
electromagnetic (EM) shower. Such radiation has been observed in silica sand
and rock salt, but this is the first direct observation from an EM shower in
ice. These measurements are important since the majority of experiments to date
that rely on the effect for ultra-high energy neutrino detection are being
performed using ice as the target medium. As part of the complete validation
process for the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) experiment, we
performed an experiment at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) in
June 2006 using a 7.5 metric ton ice target, yielding results fully consistent
with theoretical expectations.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, minor correction
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