A scalable High Voltage Power Supply System with system on chip control for Micro Pattern Gaseous Detectors

The requirements posed to high voltage power supply systems by the operation of Micro Pattern Gaseous Detectors are specific in terms of high resolution diagnostic features and intelligent dynamic voltage control. These requirements are needed both when technology development is performed and when extended detector systems are supplied and monitored. Systems satisfying all the needed features are not commercially available. A single channel high voltage system matching the Micro Pattern Gaseous Detector needs has been designed and realized, including its hardware and software components. The system employs a commercial DCDC converter and is coupled to a custom high resolution ammeter. Local intelligence, flexibility and high speed inter-connectivity are provided by a System on Chip Board and the use of a powerful FPGA. The single channel system has been developed, as critical milestone towards the realization of a multi-channel system. The design, implementation and performance of the system are reported in detail in this article, as well as the performance of the single channel power supply when connected to a Micro Pattern Gaseous Detector in realistic working condition during a test beam exercise

DAQ platform based on SoC-FPGA for high resolution time stamping in cosmic ray detection

Accurate timing in cosmic ray detection is critical for reconstruction of events from multiple scattered detectors. Since most of the detectors dedicated to study cosmic rays generate continuous analog signals, a precise timing depends on the sampling rate and the subsequent triggering system operating on the generated digital data stream. In this paper, a data acquisition platform based on a fully programmable System-On-Chip (SoC) and a high-speed analog to digital converter, able to manage 8-bit data resolution, 500MHz sampling rate and GPS connection for data synchronization is presented. The SoC is a ZYNQ 7000 device with a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) and a dual core ARM processor embedded on a single chip. The system achieves 2 ns time resolution and is also able to increase data amplitude resolution through oversampling and can simultaneously generate a real time histogram of the incoming data. The platform has an embedded high voltage power supply control with temperature and pressure compensation for optimal and stable operation of different detectors. While the time critical activities are handled and carried out by the FPGA, software running on the dual core ARM processor with a real time operating system (FreeRTOS) provides Ethernet connection for remote control of the platform

The high voltage system of the novel MPGD-based photon detectors of COMPASS RICH-1 and its development towards a scalable High Voltage Power Supply System for MPGDs

The COMPASS RICH-1 detector has undergone a major upgrade in 2016 with the installation of four novel MPGD-based photon detectors. They consist of large-size hybrid MPGDs with multi-layer architecture composed of two layers of Thick-GEMs and bulk resistive MicroMegas. A dedicated high voltage power supply system, based on CAEN HV modules, has been built and put in operation: it controls more than 100 HV channels. The system is required to protect the detectors against errors by the operator, monitor voltages and currents at a 1 Hz rate and automatically react to detector misbehavior. It includes also a HV compensation system against environmental pressure and temperature variation to grant the detector stability. The operation of a MPGD based single photon detector poses challenging requirements to the high voltage power supply systems employed in terms of high-resolution diagnostic features and dynamic voltage control. Systems satisfying all the needed features are not commercially available; for this reason a novel single channel high voltage system matching the MPGD needs has been designed and realized. In this article the COMPASS RICH-1 MPGD HV system implementation is described as well as its performance in terms of stability of the novel MPGD-based photon detectors during the physics data taking at COMPASS. The design, implementation and performance of a novel HV power supply system based on DC to DC converters and controlled by a FPGA device is presented. The capabilities of the first prototype of the new single HV channel power supply are illustrated when operated with a MPGD based single photon detector during a test beam exercise. The preliminary result of the multi channel system are briefly discussed

The XAFS fluorescence detector system based on 64 silicon drift detectors for the SESAME synchrotron light source

SESAME (Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Application in the Middle East) is a ‘‘third-generation’’ synchrotron light source. The Middle East’s first major international research centre, established as cooperative venture by the scientists and governments of the region, is situated in Jordan. On the basis of the agreement signed between INFN and SESAME, our collaboration has designed and is building a Fluorescence Detector System based on 64 SDDs, each having a 9 mm2 non-collimated sensitive area, realized with eight monolithic arrays for a total collimated sensitive area of 499 mm2. The instrument will be used at the beamline dedicated to x-ray absorption spectroscopy in the energy range 3–30 keV with the capability of reaching a maximum counting rate of at least 3.2 Mcps. The energy resolution required for this application is below 150 eV FWHM @5.9 keV. We plan to have the system completely operative by July 2018. We report on the main building blocks of this system, dedicated to SESAME, and describe the experimental performances measured in the lab and on the XAFS beamline of ELETTRA Sincrotrone Trieste, Italy. In the very first tests the system was successfully operated up to 8 Mcounts/s. The energy resolution below 150 eV @5.9 keV was measured using a 1.6 μs peaking time with the detector cooled to 10 ◦C

Large solid angle and high detection efficiency multi-element silicon drift detectors (SDD) for synchrotron based x-ray spectroscopy

Third and fourth generation light sources have revolutionized the research in many scientific and technological disciplines. New scientific challenges impose the construction of cutting-edge performance machines and experimental stations. In this context, off-the-shelf detection systems severely constrain the achievable results. These reasons motivated the ReDSoX research project, aiming to explore new solutions related to energy resolving imagers based on Silicon Drift Detectors (SDD), which are among the most employed acquisition devices in X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. The main goal of the project is to develop novel versatile detection systems able to cover a large photoemission solid angle, being easily adaptable to the needs of different X-ray spectroscopy beamlines and ready to cope with high photon count-rates in order to exploit all the power of new light sources. Research efforts yielded two detector systems, dedicated to different experimental needs. The first system is composed of 32 SDD elements arranged on 4 monolithic sensors and covers a total non-collimated area of 1230 mm 2 . Such device is optimized for detecting low-energy photons in the 200 - 4000 eV energy range. The second detector consists of a matrix of 64 SDD elements disposed on 8 monolithic arrays covering an overall non-collimated active area of 576 mm 2 and operating over an energy range between 4 and 30 keV. Both systems are highly integrated and can either be operated as an apparent large area single detector or as a multi-element detector, collecting information separately from each single element in order to enable spatially and angularly resolved advanced studies. The performances of the two detector systems have been studied at the TwinMic and XAFS beamlines (Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste, Italy), respectively. Recent results obtained during these measurements are presented and discussed