Interdisciplinary Cluster Workshop "Detectors and Instrumentation"

30 May 2016, 09:00 → 1 Jun 2016, 17:30 Europe/Berlin

New seminar room, downstairs (Max-Planck-Institut für extraterretrische Physik, MPE. New seminar room, downstairs)

Andreas Müller (Excellence Cluster Universe)

The Excellence Cluster Universe organises an interdisciplinary workshop "Detectors and Instrumentation" which will take place during 30 May and 1 June 2016.

Venue: MPE, new seminar room

Sessions:
–Photon detectors (visible),  
–Electronics,
–Solid-state detectors (SiPMs, CCDs, Ge, XMM, Athena),  
–Gas detectors (GEM foils, ALICE, ATLAS-MDT),  
–Large-volume+combined detection (Gerda, neutrons),
–Magnetic field detection,
–Scintillation detectors,
–Signal-amplification and processing,  
–Low-temperature bolometry (CRESST)

The registration deadline ended on 27 May. 
There will be no fee.  

Update: Program flyer and talks slides (pdf) are now available (see below).

Scientific Organising Committee:
Martin Berger (TUM)
Laura Fabbietti (TUM)
Peter Fierlinger (TUM)
Thomas Kuhr (LMU)
Bela Majorovits (MPP)
Norbert Meidinger (MPE)
Andreas Mueller (TUM); Chair
Frank Simon (MPP)

This event is organised and funded by the Excellence Cluster Universe.

Program flyer (pdf) ICW_Detectors_2016_prg_flyer.pdf

Talk Abt Abt.pdf

Talk Finger Finger.pdf

Talk Gasik Gasik.pdf

Talk Hertenberger Hertenberger.pdf

Talk Janicsko Janicsko.pdf

Talk Kish Kish.pdf

Talk Konorov Konorov.pdf

Talk Kortner Kortner.pdf

Talk Meidinger Meidinger.pdf

Talk Mirzoyan Mirzoyan.pdf

Talk Nisius Nisius.pdf

Talk Petricca Petricca.pdf

Talk Reimann Reimann.pdf

Talk Schulz Schulz.pdf

Talk Sturm Sturm.pdf

Talk Ulrich Ulrich.pdf

Talk von Kienlin vonKienlin.pdf

Talk Wuestrich Wuestrich.pdf

Monday 30 May

1 Fast Light Sensors in Physics Experiments (Overview)

Most experiments in physics are using some type of light detector. The Astro-particle physics group in Max-Planck-Institute for Physics (MPIP) has long traditions in light detector developments, several novel sensors were initiated by us. We have developed very high Quantum Efficiency (QE) Hybrid Photo Detectors (HPD) with GaAsP photocathode and Avalanche Photo Diodes (APD) matrixes in cooperation with industrial partners in the past. Also, in recent years we co-developed and strongly improved classical Photo Multiplier Tubes (PMT). Since mid 1960’s the QE of classical PMTs was stagnating on the level of ~25 % and the photo electron (ph.e.) Collection Efficiency (CE) was on the level of ~80 %. In recent ~10 years we initiated up to 85 % improvement of the Photon Detection Efficiency (PDE = QE x ph.e. CE) of bialkali type PMTs. The MAGIC project was the first to profit from these developments, the new PMTs allowed us operating the telescopes above a low energy threshold of 50 GeV. The most recent PMTs can provide an average peak QE of ~42 % and a ph.e. collection efficiency of 95-98 %. Along with vacuum tube technology in recent ~14 years we are closely cooperating with researchers, who were pioneering the emergence and developments of SiPM. Our cooperation, also with industrial partners, showed fruitful results, top-class sensors became available, setting new standards in Photon Detection Efficiency and cross-talk. In his presentation Razmik would like to go over the basics of light detection as well as over the development of different type sensors, focusing on super-bialkali PMTs and on SiPMs.

Speaker: Razmik Mirzoyan (MPP)

Photon detectors (visible)

2 LAr scintillation light detection with SiPMs and WLS fibers in GERDA

GERDA is a double beta decay experiment located at the INFN Gran Sasso National Laboratory, Italy. GERDA operates bare Ge diodes enriched in Ge-76 in liquid argon. Liquid argon (LAr) serves as cooling medium and passive shielding. In Phase II light detectors were added to use the scintillation light of the LAr for active background suppression. The VUV light emitted by the LAr has to be converted to visible light and then detected by cryogenic light detectors. In addition to PMTs we deployed wavelength shifting fibers equipped with SiPMs directly in the LAr. Some details of this novel concept and the first results from the commissioning runs will be presented.

Speaker: Jozsef Janicsko (TUM)

10:45 Coffee

3 Large format science detectors and high speed subelectron noise detectors for ground based astronomy

Speaker: Gert Finger (ESO)

Electronics

4 FPGA based Data Acquisition and readout systems for COMPASS, PENELOPE and Belle II

Since two decades Field Programmable Gate Arrays(FPGA) are used in custom electronics for physics experiments to control ASICs, ADCs, TDCs, and perform first stage of data processing. Steady progress in the technology converted typical FPGA applications from high density big size programmable logic to a system on a chip. There are three important requirements common for distributed readout systems: provision of slow control for detector configuration and monitoring, provision of common time reference system and high speed interfaces to computers. In the talk three readout systems, which employ common hardware and firmware (FPGA software) solutions, will be presented: –for proton detector of the PENELOPE experiment (non accelerator experiment) which processes data from 2000 APDs; –for DEPFET detector of the Belle 2 experiment which consists of 8 million pixels and generates 20 GBytes of data per second; –COMPASS FPGA event builder with 2.5 GB/s sustained bandwidth.

Speaker: Igor Konorov (TUM)

12:15 Lunch

5 Germanium Detectors (Overview)

An overview of the physics and technology of germanium detectors is given. Germanium is compared to silicon. Different germanium detector types are introduced and there features are given to motivate the choice of technology for different applications.

Speaker: Iris Abt (MPP)

Solid-state detectors

6 DEPFET developments at MPS semiconductor Lab

DEPFET detectors developed at MPS Semiconductor Lab are already selected for several experiments (BELLE II, MIXS, ATHENA, PF KEK). Overview of the selected application will be given. Additionally, more advanced flavors of DEPFET sensors will be presented.

Speaker: Jelena Ninkovic (MPG Halbleiterlabor)

15:15 Coffee

7 XMM, eROSITA, Athena X-ray satellites

The development of the PNCCD detector was motivated by the application for the EPIC PN camera on ESA’s XMM-Newton X-ray satellite. After launch in 1999, the camera is till this day successfully in operation observing the x-ray sky.

Speaker: Norbert Meidinger (MPE)

8 Gamma-ray detectors for INTEGRAL and Fermi space telescopes

ESA’s INTEGRAL and NASA’s Fermi space telescopes were launched in 2002 and in 2008 respectively. Different kinds of gamma-ray detectors allow observations of the gamma-ray sky from hard X-rays/soft gamma-rays up to GeV energies. The main instruments of both mission will be introduced, with a focus on the detectors provided by the High-Energy Astrophysics group of the Max-Planck-Institute for extraterrestrial Physics.

Speaker: Andreas von Kienlin (MPE)

Tuesday 31 May

9 From gated to continuous readout: an upgrade of the ALICE TPC (Overview)

A large Time Projection Chamber (TPC) is the main device for tracking and charged particle identification in the ALICE experiment at the CERN LHC. After the second long shutdown in 2019/20, the LHC will deliver Pb beams colliding at an interaction rate of about 50 kHz, which is about a factor of 100 above the present read-out rate of the TPC. This will result in a significant improvement on the sensitivity of rare probes that are considered key observables to characterise the QCD matter created in such collisions. In order to make full use of this luminosity, a major upgrade of the TPC is required. Since the TPC drift time of 100 μs is 5 times longer than the average time between interactions, the presently employed gating of the TPC wire chambers must be abandoned and continuously operated readout detectors using GEMs will be implemented. To fulfil the challenging requirements of the upcoming upgrade, a novel configuration of GEM detectors has been developed. It allows to maintain excellent particle identification and efficient ion trapping by stacking four GEM foils operated under specific field configuration. Results of an extensive R&D program concerning ion backflow suppression, dE/dx resolution and stability against discharges will be presented. The status of the upgrade of the online calibration and data reduction system, as well as the development of a new readout electronics will be reported. We will also discuss the detector production phase, which is just starting.

Speaker: Piotr Gasik (TUM)

Gas detectors

10 MICROMEGAS: High-Rate and Large-Area Capable Gaseous Micropattern Detectors with a Wide Range of Applications

Micromegas, micromesh geseous structures, are planar detectors with excellent spatial resolution. A micromesh in between the cathode and the micro-structured anode creates two regions of electric fields: an ionization / drift region, being few mm in length, with fields around 1 kV/cm and the amplification region with high fields around 40 kV/cm. Tiny lithographically produced insulating pillars, 128 micrometres in height, position the micromesh in the correct distance from the anode. For large area applications micro-strip anodes are well suited, two-dimensional readout is then realized by 2 layers of crossed anodes, separated by a thin insulationg layer of pcb-material. The high segmentation makes the detectors high-rate and large-area capable. Due to the small distance between anode and micromesh, micromegas are subject to discharges when strongly ionizing particles create charge densities above the Raether limit in the amplification zone, a fact that appears regularly at experiments like e.g. Atlas at LHC, where the detectors are set on the working point for tracking of minimum ionizing muons but are exposed to strongly ionizing proton or neutron background as well. Discharges are non-destructive, but might create unwanted deadtime. Two particularly successfull scenarios of discharge protection have been developed during the last years, resistive strip micromegas and floating strip micromegas. Ralf will introduce both detector technologies and will show examples of high-resolution m^2 in size micromegas detectors, of ultra-high-rate capable low material-budget detectors suited for medical applications and show examples for X-ray and thermal neutron detection. He will also sketch the elaborate construction method needed for the realization of large-area high-resolution micromegas.

Speaker: Ralf Hertenberger (LMU)

10:45 Coffee

11 Monitored Drift-Tube Chambers for Precision Muon Tracking in the ATLAS Detector

The muon spectrometer of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hardron Collider (LHC) is designed for efficient muon identification at excellent momentum resolution of 10 % at p_T = 1TeV/c. This is achieved by operating precision muon chambers in a magnetic field of ≈0.5 T produced by an air-core toroid system. Chambers with 30~mm diameter drift tubes, so-called "Monitored Drift-Tube (MDT) chambers'", are used for the accurate measurement of a muon trajectory in the muon system. In a decade from now the LHC will be upgraded to the so-called "High-Luminosity'' LHC delivering a ten times higher instantaneous luminosity than the LHC. This will lead to an increase of the particle background fluxes by an order of magnitude. The ATLAS muon system is operated in a large background of neutron and gamma rays. In certain areas of the muon system the background flux will exceed the rate capability limit of the MDT chambers. New small drift-tube MDT chambers with 15 mm diameter tubes can be operated at ten times higher background rates than the MDT chambers and will replace MDT chambers in regions of high background fluxes. The lecture will explain the basic operating principles of MDT chambers, their rate capability limit and how this limit can be improved by reducing the diameter of the drift tubes.

Speaker: Oliver Kortner (MPP)

Large-volume+combined detection

12 XENON: Dual-phase TPCs for Dark Matter Detection

Dual-phase time-projection chambers based on noble gases are a very efficient particle detection technology which leads the field of dark matter searches. The XENON collaboration aims at a direct detection of dark matter with experiments based on liquid xenon. The XENON100 detector with a 62 kg target volume is being operated at the LNGS in Italy since 2008 and has set the best limits on spin-independent and spin-dependent WIMP-nucleus scattering at the time of publications. The next step of the research program, the XENON1T experiment is currently in the commissioning phase, and features 2t of liquid xenon in the target, the ~10m water tank for background reduction via Cherenkov muon veto, and an innovative system for gas storage, liquefaction and purification. In his talk Alex will explain the technology behind XENON100 and data analysis strategies, including results in various physics channels. The technological advances and status of the XENON1T experiment will be also presented, followed by an outlook into the future projects such as XENONnT and DARWIN.

Speaker: Alexander Kish (U Zürich)

12:30 Lunch

13 How to search for extremely rare events? The GERDA experiment as an example

The GERDA experiment will be introduced as an example for an experiment searching for extremely rare events. Neutrinoless double beta decay will be shortly motivated. The expected signal and the most important background processes leading to the design of the experiment will be introduced. The methods to avoid and to identify background will be discussed. The efficiency of the technologies will be demonstrated by discussing first results from the GERDA experiment.

Speaker: Oliver Schulz (MPP)

14 The ATLAS Experiment

The ATLAS experiment is a large multipurpose detector operated at the LHC accelerator at CERN in Geneva. It consists of an inner tracking detector surrounded by a thin superconducting solenoid, electromagnetic and hadronic calorimeters, and a muon spectrometer incorporating three large superconducting toroid magnets. In this presentation the main components of the detector are introduced and examples of its performance are shown.

Speaker: Richard Nisius (MPP)

Wednesday 1 June

15 High-precision magnetic field detection with spin polarized atomic vapors.

Known and widely used concepts for high precision magnetic field detection are usually based on the concepts of fluxgates or SQUIDS which can be magnetic and/or require cry-temperatures. Another approach at room temperature and with achievable sensitivities down to the femto-Tesla level is the use of spin polarized vapor samples. This talk will give an overview of the underlying quantum mechanical concepts and will show some application examples, also carried out at the Universe Cluster.

Speaker: Michael Sturm (TUM)

Magnetic field detection

16 Ultra-low magnetic fields and the detection of small signals

Generation ans detection of small magnetic signals has advanced significantly over the last decade, enabling a next generation of precision experiments in fundamental physics and applied physics. In my talk an overview of the state of the art in the shielding of magnetic fields and minimization of magnetic field gradients including the numerical and experimental methods will be discussed. Further, an overview of different available methods to determine various types of small signals will be shown, also in view of the locally available technologies developed at the Universe-Cluster, with the goal to search for the electric dipole moment of the neutron with yocto-eV energy resolution.

Speaker: Peter Fierlinger (TUM)

10:30 Coffee

Scintillation detectors

17 Scintillation of liquid argon and liquid argon-xenon mixtures

Liquid argon-xenon mixtures show intense scintillation in the vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) and at the same time in the near infrared (IR). Optical spectroscopy of liquid argon and argon-xenon mixtures has been studied using both ion- and electron beam excitation. Presently we investigate liquid argon-xenon mixtures as a potential detector material. In particular we want to learn if a comparison of VUV and IR emission can be used for a purely optical particle identification. The experiments are performed at the Munich Tandem accelerator (MLL).

Speaker: Andreas Ulrich (TUM)

18 A novel Axion microwave experiment

Axions are hypothetical low-mass bosons which are predicted to exist by the Peccei-Quinn mechanism that can explain the absence of CP-violating effects in quantum chromodynamics (QCD). They could also provide the cold dark matter of the universe and as such are among the few particle candidates that solve simultaneously two major problems of nature. A novel concept based on the idea of axion photon conversion at the transition between two media in a static magnetic field will be presented. The hypothetical (cold) dark matter axion field is strongly coherent. A coupled cavity structure made out of layers with alternating dielectric constants is used to sum up the in-phase component of the generated photons. The predicted signal boost is large enough for an unambiguous detection of the microwave photons with state of the art radiometer technology. The experimental idea, the proposed design for an experiment in the 40µeV to 400µeV axion mass range, and some of the boundary conditions for the photon detection will be discussed in this talk.

Speaker: Olaf Reimann (MPP)

Signal-amplification and processing

12:15 Lunch

19 Cryogenic detectors for rare event searches (Overview)

Cryogenic detectors were introduced in rare events physics in the 1980s. During the last 30 years these detectors became crucial for a large number of neutrino physics and dark matter search applications. A cryogenic calorimeter composed of an absorber crystal and a temperature sensor, measures the energy of an impinging particle converted into phonons. This provides an energy collection mechanism that is more efficient than those used in other standard detectors, which translates into a much better energy resolution. This, together with the possibility of choosing a wide range of materials for the absorber crystal, make cryogenic calorimeters the ideal candidates for a large number of rare events applications in which the slowness of the response is not important for the measurement. The possibility of using cryogenic calorimeters with double read out (heat+light or heat+ionization) in scintillating or semiconducting crystals also allows extremely powerful radiation discrimination techniques. Recent upgrades are pushing the technique to a new era in which the large masses (~1000 channels for a tonne scale detectors) and extremely low thresholds (~0.1 keV) are opening the way to unexplored regions for dark matter and double beta decays searches.

Speaker: Federica Petricca (MPP)

Low-temperature bolometry

20 The CRESST experiment: A review of the current detector R&D

Located in the Gran Sasso underground laboratory, the CRESST experiment aims for the direct detection of dark matter by using cryogenic calorimeters to detect dark matter induced nuclear scattering processes. The CRESST detectors consist of scintillating CaWO4 crystals in which energy depositions are directly detected as heat/phonons and spatially separated light detectors to absorb the scintillation light. While the phonon channel provides an accurate measurement of the deposited energy, the light channel is used for particle identification and background discrimination. Since the expected energy depositions are small, the CRESST experiment uses low temperature calorimeters operated at temperatures of ≈ 15mK to achieve the necessary sensitivity. Heat changes caused by particle interactions are measured with tungsten transition edge sensors that provide thresholds of O(100eV) in the phonon channel and O(10eV) in the light channel. The talk will review the former versions of CRESST detectors and the development that has led to the current CRESST-III modules which will provide access to unexplored regions of the dark matter parameter space.

Speaker: Marc Wüstrich (MPP)