Test and commissioning of the CARLOS control boards for the ALICE Silicon Drift Detectors

This paper presents the test strategy employed during the installation of the CARLOS end ladder boards developed for the Silicon Drift Detectors (SDD) of ALICE. Each CARLOS board compresses the data provided by the front-end electronics of one SDD and sends them via an optical link of 800 Mbit/s to the data concentrator card (CARLOSrx) located in the counting room. The paper describes the integration of the CARLOS boards in the final SDD system, including its cooling and mechanical support, the power supply distribution and the optical interconnections. The results of the tests performed after each step of the installation sequence are reported

Lunar Gravitational-Wave Antenna

Monitoring of vibrational eigenmodes of an elastic body excited by gravitational waves was one of the first concepts proposed for the detection of gravitational waves. At laboratory scale, these experiments became known as resonant-bar detectors first developed by Joseph Weber in the 1960s. Due to the dimensions of these bars, the targeted signal frequencies were in the kHz range. Weber also pointed out that monitoring of vibrations of Earth or Moon could reveal gravitational waves in the mHz band. His Lunar Surface Gravimeter experiment deployed on the Moon by the Apollo 17 crew had a technical failure rendering the data useless. In this article, we revisit the idea and propose a Lunar Gravitational-Wave Antenna (LGWA). We find that LGWA could become an important partner observatory for joint observations with the space-borne, laser-interferometric detector LISA, and at the same time contribute an independent science case due to LGWA's unique features. Technical challenges need to be overcome for the deployment of the experiment, and development of inertial vibration sensor technology lays out a future path for this exciting detector concept.Comment: 29 pages, 17 figure

Setup of a magnetic field simulator for spacecraft soft-docking systems characterization

embargoed_20250308The development of magnetic field simulators plays a crucial role in various applications such as testing and characterizing magnetic materials, sensor calibration, evaluating electromagnetic compatibility, and replicating specific magnetic field conditions. This work focuses on the updating of the magnetic field simulator located in the Space System Laboratory of the University of Padova. The facility utilizes a Helmholtz coil system consisting of three mutually orthogonal pairs of conductive coils. By modulating the current flowing through these coils, the facility can generate a target magnetic field in any desired direction of space. In addition, this thesis discusses the implementation of MATLAB/Simulink scripts that accurately control the generated magnetic field. These scripts, deployed onto a Raspberry Pi board, enable users to calibrate the facility, generate a uniform magnetic field, and characterize a test device. The utilization of these scripts enhances user-friendliness and provides potential for future expansion and customization. Furthermore, this research aims to characterize the magnetic field generated by the electromagnet of the pre-development breadboard model of the soft-docking system for the Space Rider Observer Cube (SROC) mission and to test and validate the operational procedures of the facility. The findings from this characterization will contribute to the overall understanding and validation of the facility's capabilities. Lastly, potential future upgrades and avenues of research with the facility are highlighted, emphasizing the continuous improvement and exploration of its capabilitiesThe development of magnetic field simulators plays a crucial role in various applications such as testing and characterizing magnetic materials, sensor calibration, evaluating electromagnetic compatibility, and replicating specific magnetic field conditions. This work focuses on the updating of the magnetic field simulator located in the Space System Laboratory of the University of Padova. The facility utilizes a Helmholtz coil system consisting of three mutually orthogonal pairs of conductive coils. By modulating the current flowing through these coils, the facility can generate a target magnetic field in any desired direction of space. In addition, this thesis discusses the implementation of MATLAB/Simulink scripts that accurately control the generated magnetic field. These scripts, deployed onto a Raspberry Pi board, enable users to calibrate the facility, generate a uniform magnetic field, and characterize a test device. The utilization of these scripts enhances user-friendliness and provides potential for future expansion and customization. Furthermore, this research aims to characterize the magnetic field generated by the electromagnet of the pre-development breadboard model of the soft-docking system for the Space Rider Observer Cube (SROC) mission and to test and validate the operational procedures of the facility. The findings from this characterization will contribute to the overall understanding and validation of the facility's capabilities. Lastly, potential future upgrades and avenues of research with the facility are highlighted, emphasizing the continuous improvement and exploration of its capabilitie

Test of the end-ladder prototype board of the ALICE SDD experiment

The paper presents an end-ladder card prototype of the data acquisition chain of the ALICE SDD experiment. The prototype includes most of the electronics devices that will be applied to ALICE SDD experiment. The card interfaces with the front-end electronics and with the counting room detector data link via the interface card named CARLOS_rx. The end_ladder PCB has been fully tested by providing control signals and input vectors via a pattern generator and by collecting output data via the detector data link

Study of benzophenone grafting on reduced graphene oxide by unconventional techniques

Understanding the mechanisms acting behind the functionalization of graphene is of paramount importance for the application of functionalized graphene in polymeric nano-composite materials. This work reports the study of the influence of benzophenone in a UV-mediated grafting process on graphene oxide, carried out by unconventional spectroscopic techniques, such as electron spin resonance and thermogravimetric analysis coupled with in situ infra-red spectroscopy. Using these techniques, a direct investigation of the grafting process was achieved for the first time, while up to now only indirect evidence was provided, opening new perspectives for the study of small molecule grafting on graphene sheets. The presence of benzophenone grafted onto the reduced graphene oxide surface was demonstrated, and in particular an unstable radical species attributable to the semipinacol radical of benzophenone was revealed, which is a key step of the functionalization process. Moreover, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy demonstrated that the grafting process effectively reduced graphene oxide recovering the properties of graphene, contemporarily leaving active sites for further polymer functionalization

An afocal telescope configuration for the ESA ARIEL mission

Atmospheric Remote-Sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large Survey (ARIEL) is a candidate as an M4 ESA mission to launch in 2026. During its 3.5 years of scientific operations, ARIEL will observe spectroscopically in the infrared (IR) a large population of known transiting planets in the neighbourhood of the solar system. ARIEL aims to give a breakthrough in the observation of exoplanet atmospheres and understanding of the physics and chemistry of these far-away worlds. ARIEL is based on a 1 m class telescope feeding a collimated beam into two separate instrument modules: a spectrometer module covering the waveband between 1.95 and 7.8 μm and a combined fine guidance system/visible photometer/NIR spectrometer. The telescope configuration is a classic Cassegrain layout used with an eccentric pupil and coupled to a tertiary off-axis paraboloidal mirror. To constrain the thermo-mechanically induced optical aberrations, the primary mirror (M1) temperature will be monitored and finely tuned using an active thermal control system based on thermistors and heaters. They will be switched on and off to maintain the M1 temperature within ± 1 K by the telescope control unit (TCU). The TCU is a payload electronics subsystem also responsible for the thermal control of the spectrometer module detectors as well as the secondary mirror mechanism and IR calibration source management. The TCU, being a slave subsystem of the instrument control unit, will collect the housekeeping data from the monitored subsystems and will forward them to the master unit. The latter will run the application software, devoted to the main spectrometer management and to the scientific data on-board processing