4,681 research outputs found
Characterisation of radiation damage in silicon photomultipliers with a Monte Carlo model
Measured response functions and low photon yield spectra of silicon
photomultipliers (SiPM) were compared to multi-photoelectron pulse-height
distributions generated by a Monte Carlo model. Characteristic parameters for
SiPM were derived. The devices were irradiated with 14 MeV electrons at the
Mainz microtron MAMI. It is shown that the first noticeable damage consists of
an increase in the rate of dark pulses and the loss of uniformity in the pixel
gains. Higher radiation doses reduced also the photon detection efficiency. The
results are especially relevant for applications of SiPM in fibre detectors at
high luminosity experiments.Comment: submitted to Nucl. Instr. and Meth.
On the limited amplitude resolution of multipixel Geiger-mode APDs
The limited number of active pixels in a Geiger-mode Avalanche Photodiode
(G-APD) results not only in a non-linearity but also in an additional
fluctuation of its response. Both these effects are taken into account to
calculate the amplitude resolution of an ideal G-APD, which is shown to be
finite. As one of the consequences, the energy resolution of a scintillation
detector based on a G-APD is shown to be limited to some minimum value defined
by the number of pixels in the G-APD.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Radiation Damage Studies of Silicon Photomultipliers
We report on the measurement of the radiation hardness of silicon
photomultipliers (SiPMs) manufactured by
Fondazione Bruno Kessler in Italy (1 mm and 6.2 mm), Center of
Perspective Technology and Apparatus in Russia (1 mm and 4.4 mm), and
Hamamatsu Corporation in Japan (1 mm). The SiPMs were irradiated using a
beam of 212 MeV protons at Massachusetts General Hospital, receiving fluences
of up to protons per cm with the SiPMs at operating
voltage. Leakage currents were read continuously during the irradiation. The
delivery of the protons was paused periodically to record scope traces in
response to calibrated light pulses to monitor the gains, photon detection
efficiencies, and dark counts of the SiPMs. The leakage current and dark noise
are found to increase with fluence. Te leakage current is found to be
proportional to the mean square deviation of the noise distribution, indicating
the dark counts are due to increased random individual pixel activation, while
SiPMs remain fully functional as photon detectors. The SiPMs are found to
anneal at room temperature with a reduction in the leakage current by a factor
of 2 in about 100 days.Comment: 35 pages, 25 figure
Long-term operation of a multi-channel cosmic muon system based on scintillation counters with MRS APD light readout
A Cosmic Ray Test Facility (CRTF) is the first large-scale implementation of
a scintillation triggering system based on a new scintillation technique known
as START. In START, the scintillation light is collected and transported by WLS
optical fibers, while light detection is performed by pairs of avalanche
photodiodes with the Metal-Resistor-Semiconductor structure operated in the
Geiger mode (MRS APD). START delivers 100% efficiency of cosmic muon detection,
while its intrinsic noise level is less than 10^{-2} Hz. CRTF, consisting of
160 START channels, has been continuously operated by the ALICE TOF
collaboration for more than 25 000 hours, and has demonstrated a high level of
stability. Fewer than 10% of MRS APDs had to be replaced during this period.Comment: Proceedings of NDIP-2008. 8 pages, 8 figures, 6 reference
Performance Studies of Prototype II for the CASTOR forward Calorimeter at the CMS Experiment
We present results of the performance of the second prototype of the CASTOR
quartz-tungsten sampling calorimeter, to be installed in the very forward
region of the CMS experiment at the LHC. The energy linearity and resolution,
as well as the spatial resolution of the prototype to electromagnetic and
hadronic showers are studied with E=20-200 GeV electrons, E=20-350 GeV pions,
and E=50,150 GeV muons from beam tests carried out at CERN/SPS in 2004. The
responses of the calorimeter using two different types of photodetectors
(avalanche photodiodes APDs, and photomultiplier tubes PMTs) are compared.Comment: 16 pages, 22 figs., submitted to EPJ-
Steps in the Negative-Differential-Conductivity Regime of a Superconductor
Current-voltage characteristics were measured in the mixed state of
Y1Ba2Cu3O(7-delta) superconducting films in the regime where flux flow becomes
unstable and the differential conductivity dj/dE becomes negative. Under
conditions where its negative slope is steep, the j(E) curve develops a
pronounced staircase like pattern. We attribute the steps in j(E) to the
formation of a dynamical phase consisting of the succesive nucleation of
quantized distortions in the local vortex velocity and flux distribution within
the moving flux matter.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Rearrangement of the vortex lattice due to instabilities of vortex flow
With increasing applied current we show that the moving vortex lattice
changes its structure from a triangular one to a set of parallel vortex rows in
a pinning free superconductor. This effect originates from the change of the
shape of the vortex core due to non-equilibrium effects (similar to the
mechanism of vortex motion instability in the Larkin-Ovchinnikov theory). The
moving vortex creates a deficit of quasiparticles in front of its motion and an
excess of quasiparticles behind the core of the moving vortex. This results in
the appearance of a wake (region with suppressed order parameter) behind the
vortex which attracts other vortices resulting in an effective
direction-dependent interaction between vortices. When the vortex velocity
reaches the critical value quasi-phase slip lines (lines with fast vortex
motion) appear which may coexist with slowly moving vortices between such
lines. Our results are found within the framework of the time-dependent
Ginzburg-Landau equations and are strictly valid when the coherence length
is larger or comparable with the decay length of the
non-equilibrium quasiparticle distribution function. We qualitatively explain
experiments on the instability of vortex flow at low magnetic fields when the
distance between vortices . We speculate that a
similar instability of the vortex lattice should exist for even when
.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figure
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