Doppler backscattering systems on the Globus-M2 tokamak

Doppler backscattering (DBS) was successfully previously used on the Globus-M tokamak. The diagnostic was utilised in the form of either a single-frequency or a four-frequency dual homodyne system. It was used primarily for the study of zonal flows, filaments and Alfvén eigenmodes. These phenomena are worth being studied both on the periphery and in the core region of the plasma in a tokamak. For this specific reason two multifrequency DBS systems were installed on the upgraded Globus-M2 tokamak. The first four-frequency system with dual homodyne detection had already been used on the Globus-M tokamak and has lower probing frequencies which provide measurements from the periphery plasma. The second and new six-frequency DBS system was installed with a non-linear transmission line that was adapted to generate probing signals at frequencies 50, 55, 60, 65, 70 and 75 GHz. In general, the range of probing frequencies corresponds to the region of critical plasma densities from 5 × 1018 to 7 × 1019 m−3 at normal incidence. The pyramidal horn antennas are located inside the vacuum vessel with a special cardan-like rotator outside the camera so as to tilt antennas in the toroidal and poloidal directions. A previously developed code was applied to simulate 3D raytracing for all frequency channels. Calculations were carried out for different angles of incidence and for different electron density distributions in order to investigate the possibilities of the implementation of radial and poloidal correlation Doppler reflectometry. Examples of the DBS system application for study of plasma properties in the Globus-M2 tokamak are presented.

Multi-contrast CT imaging using a high energy resolution CdTe detector and a CZT photon-counting detector

Computed tomography (CT) imaging with high energy resolution detectors shows great promise in material decomposition and multi-contrast imaging. Multi-contrast imaging was studied by imaging a phantom with iodine (I), gadolinium (Gd), and gold (Au) solutions, and mixtures of the three using a cadmium telluride (CdTe) spectrometer with an energy resolution of 1% as well as with a cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) detector with an energy resolution of 13%. The phantom was imaged at 120 kVp and 1.1 mA with 7 mm of aluminum filtration. For the CdTe data collection, the phantom was imaged using a 0.2 mm diameter x-ray beam with 96 ten-second data acquisitions across the phantom at 45 rotation angles. For the CZT detector, we had 720 projections using a cone beam, and the six detector energy thresholds were set to 23, 33, 50, 64, 81, and 120 keV so that three thresholds corresponded to the K-edges of the contrast agents. Contrast agent isolation methods were then examined. K-edge subtraction and novel spectrometric algebraic image reconstruction (SAIR) were used for the CdTe data. K-edge subtraction alone was used for the CZT data. Linearity plots produced similar R 2 values and slopes for all three reconstruction methods. Comparing CdTe methods, SAIR offered less noise than CdTe K-edge subtraction and better geometric accuracy at low contrast concentrations. CdTe contrast agent images of I, Gd, and Au offered less noise and greater contrast than the CZT images, highlighting the benefits of high energy resolution CdTe detectors for possible use in pre-clinical or clinical CT imaging.

Experimental study of the adaptive gain feature for improved position-sensitive ion spectroscopy with Timepix2

In the present work, we study the Timepix2 pixels’ high energy response in the so-called adaptive gain mode. Therefore, Timepix2 with a 500 μm thick silicon sensor was irradiated with protons of energies in the range from 400 keV to 2 MeV and α-particles of 5.5 MeV from 241Am. A novel method was developed to determine the energy deposit in single pixels of particle imprints, which are spread out over a set of neighbor pixels (cluster). We show that each pixel is capable of measuring the deposited energy from 4 keV up to ∼3.2 MeV. Reconstructing the full energy content of the clusters, we found relative energy resolutions ( σ E ) better than 2.7% and better than 4% for proton and α-particle data, respectively. In a simple experiment with a 5.5 MeV α-particle source, we demonstrate that energy losses in thin (organic) specimen can be spatially resolved, mapping out sample thickness variations, with a resolution around 1–2 μm, across the sensor area. The inherent spatial resolution of the device was determined to be 350 nm in the best case.

Measurement of ionization loss of 50 GeV protons in silicon with smoothly tunable up to 1 cm thickness using a single flat detector

Research of the ionization loss of 50 GeV protons, the path of which in the depleted layer of the silicon detector was smoothly regulated in the range from 0.3 to 10 mm, is presented. In the experiment, we used a flat silicon detector with a fixed thickness of the depleted layer of 300 μm. The smooth regulation of the path was realized due to the variation of the angle between the surface of the detector and the incident proton beam. The comparison of experimental data and theoretical calculations of the ionization loss demonstrates agreement in all range of thicknesses. Results of the research can be used in order to control the angle between the surface of the detector and the incident beam of relativistic particles. Besides, the results can be used in the analysis of data from astrophysical silicon detectors of charged particles if high-energy particles crossed flat detectors at arbitrary angle.

TCAD simulations of non-irradiated and irradiated low-gain avalanche diodes and comparison with measurements

In this work, the results of Technology-CAD (TCAD) device-level simulations of non-irradiated and irradiated Low-Gain Avalanche Diode (LGAD) detectors and their validation against experimental data will be presented. Thanks to the intrinsic multiplication of the charge within these silicon sensors, it is possible to improve the signal to noise ratio thus limiting its drastic reduction with fluence, as it happens instead for standard silicon detectors. Therefore, special attention has been devoted to the choice of the avalanche model, which allows the simulation findings to better fit with experimental data. Moreover, a radiation damage model (called “New University of Perugia TCAD model”) has been fully implemented within the simulation environment, to have a predictive insight into the electrical behavior and the charge collection properties of the LGAD detectors, up to the highest particle fluences expected in the future High Energy Physics (HEP) experiments. This numerical model allows to consider the comprehensive bulk and surface damage effects induced by radiation on silicon sensors. By coupling the “New University of Perugia TCAD model” with an analytical model that describes the mechanism of acceptor removal in the multiplication layer, it has been possible to reproduce experimental data with high accuracy, demonstrating the reliability of the simulation framework.

A poloidal high-k scattering system for NSTX-U

A previous 5-channel tangential high-k scattering system is being replaced by an 8-channel, poloidal high-k scattering system on the National Spherical Torus eXperiment Upgrade (NSTX-U) device located in Princeton, NJ, USA. The 693 GHz poloidal scattering system replaces a 280 GHz tangential scattering system to study high-k electron density fluctuations on NSTX-U, thereby considerably enhancing planned turbulence physics studies by providing a measurement of the k θ -spectrum of both electron temperature gradient (ETG) and ion temperature gradient (ITG) modes. Two approaches to generating the 693 GHz probe beam are under development: an optically-pumped far-infrared (FIR) laser that generates ∼50 mW, and a compact gyrotron that can potentially generate in excess of 5 W. Large aperture optics collect radiation scattered from density fluctuations in the plasma core at 8 simultaneous scattering angles ranging from 2 to 15° corresponding to poloidal wavenumbers that extend to >40 cm−1. Steerable launch optics coupled with receiver optics mounted on a 5-axis receiver carriage allow the scattering volume to be placed radially from r/a = 0.3 out to the pedestal region (r/a ∼ 0.99) and translated horizontally as needed to satisfy wavenumber matching.

Pixel readout IC for CdTe detectors operating in single photon counting mode with interpixel communication

This paper presents a readout integrated circuit (IC) of pixel architecture called MPIX (Multithreshold PIXels), designed for CdTe pixel detectors used in X-ray imaging applications. The MPIX IC area is 9.6 mm × 20.3 mm and it is designed in a CMOS 130 nm process. The IC core is a matrix of 96 × 192 square-shaped pixels of 100 µm pitch. Each pixel contains a fast analog front-end followed by four independently working discriminators and four 12-bit ripple counters. Such pixel architecture allows photon processing one by one and selecting the X-ray photons according to their energy (X-ray colour imaging). To fit the different range of applications the MPIX IC has 8 possible different gain settings, and it can process the X-ray photons of energy up to 154 keV. The MPIX chip is bump-bonded to the CdTe 1.5 mm thick pixel sensor with a pixel pitch of 100 µm. To deal with the charge sharing effect coming from a thick semiconductor pixel sensor, multithreshold pattern recognition algorithm is implemented in the readout IC. The implemented algorithm operates both in the analog domain (to recover the total charge spread between neighboring pixels, when a single X-ray photon hits the border of the pixel) and in the digital domain (to allocate a hit position to a single pixel).

Progress in HXR diagnostics at GOLEM and COMPASS tokamaks

Scintillation detectors are widely used for hard X-ray spectroscopy and allow us to investigate the dynamics of runaway electrons in tokamaks. This diagnostic tool proved to be able to provide information about the energy or the number of runaway electrons. Presently it has been used for runaway studies at the GOLEM and the COMPASS tokamaks. The set of scintillation detectors used at both tokamaks was significantly extended and improved. Besides NaI(Tl) (2 × 2 inch) scintillation detectors, YAP(Ce) and CeBr3 were employed. The data acquisition system was accordingly improved and the data from scintillation detectors is collected with appropriate sampling rate (≈300 MHz) and sufficient bandwidth (≈100 MHz) to allow a pulse analysis. Up to five detectors can currently simultaneously monitor hard X-ray radiation at the GOLEM. The same scintillation detectors were also installed during the runaway electron campaign at the COMPASS tokamak. The aim of this contribution is to report progress in diagnostics of HXR radiation induced by runaway electrons at the GOLEM and the COMPASS tokamaks. The data collected during the 12th runaway electron campaign (2020) at COMPASS shows that count rates during typical low-density runaway electron discharges are in a range of hundreds of kHz and detected photon energies go up to 10 MeV (measured outside the tokamak hall). Acquired data from experimental campaigns from both machines will be discussed.

Timepix4, a large area pixel detector readout chip which can be tiled on 4 sides providing sub-200 ps timestamp binning

Timepix4 is a 24.7 × 30.0 mm2 hybrid pixel detector readout ASIC which has been designed to permit detector tiling on 4 sides. It consists of 448 × 512 pixels which can be bump bonded to a sensor with square pixels at a pitch of 55 µm. Like its predecessor, Timepix3, it can operate in data driven mode sending out information (Time of Arrival, ToA and Time over Threshold, ToT) only when a pixel has a hit above a pre-defined and programmable threshold. In this mode hits can be tagged to a time bin of <200 ps and Timepix4 can record hits correctly at incoming rates of ∼3.6 MHz/mm2/s. In photon counting (or frame-based) mode it can count incoming hits at rates of up to 5 GHz/mm2/s. In both modes data is output via between 2 and 16 serializers each running at a programmable data bandwidth of between 40 Mbps and 10 Gbps. The specifications, architecture and circuit implementation are described along with first electrical measurements and measurements with radioactive sources. In photon counting mode X-ray images have been taken at a threshold of 650 e− (with <10 masked pixels). In data driven mode images were taken of ToA/ToT data using a 90Sr source at a threshold of 800 e− (with ∼120 masked pixels).

Development, construction and tests of the Mu2e electromagnetic calorimeter mechanical structures

The “muon-to-electron conversion” (Mu2e) experiment at Fermilab will search for the charged lepton flavour violating neutrino-less coherent conversion of a muon into an electron in the field of an aluminum nucleus. The observation of this process would be the unambiguous evidence of the existence of physics beyond the standard model. Mu2e detectors comprise a straw-tracker, an electromagnetic calorimeter and an external veto for cosmic rays. In particular, the calorimeter provides excellent electron identification, a fast calorimetric online trigger, and complementary information to aid pattern recognition and track reconstruction. The detector has been designed as a state-of-the-art crystal calorimeter and employs 1348 pure Cesium Iodide (CsI) crystals readout by UV-extended silicon photosensors and fast front-end and digitization electronics. A design consisting of two identical annular matrices (named “disks”) positioned at the relative distance of 70 cm downstream the aluminum target along the muon beamline satisfies the Mu2e physics requirements. The hostile Mu2e operational conditions, in terms of radiation levels (total expected ionizing dose of 12 krad and a neutron fluence of 5 × 1010 n/cm2 @ 1 MeVeq (Si)/y), magnetic field intensity (1 T) and vacuum level (10−4 Torr) have posed tight constraints on scintillating materials, sensors, electronics and on the design of the detector mechanical structures and material choice. The support structure of each 674 crystal matrix is composed of an aluminum hollow ring and parts made of open-cell vacuum-compatible carbon fiber. The photosensors and front-end electronics for the readout of each crystal are inserted in a machined copper holder and make a unique mechanical unit. The resulting 674 mechanical units are supported by a machined plate of vacuum-compatible plastic material. The plate also integrates the cooling system made of a network of copper lines flowing a low temperature radiation-hard fluid and placed in thermal contact with the copper holders to constitute a low resistance thermal bridge. The data acquisition electronics are hosted in aluminum custom crates positioned on the external lateral surface of the disks. The crates also integrate the electronics cooling system as lines running in parallel to the front-end system. In this paper we report on the calorimeter mechanical structure design, the mechanical and thermal simulations that have determined the design technological choices, and the status of component production, quality assurance tests and plans for assembly at Fermilab.