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The optically segmented single volume scatter camera (OS-SVSC) aims to image neutron sources for nuclear nonproliferation applications using the kinematic reconstruction of elastic double-scatter events. We report on the design, construction, and calibration of one module of a new prototype. The module includes 16 EJ-204 organic plastic scintillating bars individually wrapped in Teflon tape, each measuring $0.5 {\mathrm {cm}}\times 0.5 {\mathrm {cm}}\times 20 {\mathrm {cm}}$. The scintillator array is coupled to two custom silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) boards consisting of a $2\times 8$ array of SensL J-Series-60035 SiPMs, which are read out by a custom 16 channel DRS4 based digitizer board. The electrical crosstalk between SiPMs within the electronics chain is measured as $0.76\% \,\pm \,0.11\%$ among all 16 channels. We report the detector response of one module including interaction position, time, and energy, using two different optical coupling materials: EJ-560 silicone rubber optical coupling pads and EJ-550 optical coupling grease. We present results in terms of the overall mean and standard deviation of the $z$ -position reconstruction and interaction time resolutions for all 16 bars in the module. We observed the $1\sigma z$ -position resolution for gamma interactions in the 0.3–0.4 MeVee range to be 2.24 cm ± 1.10 cm and 1.45 cm ± 0.19 cm for silicone optical coupling pad and optical grease, respectively. The observed $1\sigma $ interaction time resolution is 265 ps ± 29 ps and 235 ps ± 10 ps for silicone optical coupling pad and optical grease, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Belle II experiment at the SuperKEKB collider at KEK, Tsukuba, Japan has successfully started taking data with the full detector in March 2019. Belle II is a luminosity frontier experiment of the new generation to search for physics beyond the Standard Model of elementary particles, from precision measurements of a huge number of $B$ and charm mesons and tau leptons. To read out the events at a high rate from the seven subdetectors of Belle II, we adopt a highly unified readout system, including a unified trigger-timing distribution system (TTD), a unified high-speed data link system (Belle2link), and a common backend system to receive Belle2link data. Each subdetector frontend readout system has a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) in which unified firmware components of the TTD receiver and Belle2link transmitter are embedded. The system is designed for data taking at a trigger rate up to 30 kHz with a dead-time fraction of about 1% in the frontend readout system. The trigger rate is still much lower than our design. However, the background level is already high because of the initial vacuum condition and other accelerator parameters, and it is the most limiting factor of the accelerator and detector operation. Hence, the occupancy and radiation effects to the frontend electronics are rather severe, and they cause various kinds of instabilities. We present the performance of the system, including the achieved trigger rate, dead-time fraction, and stability, and discuss the experience gained during the operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present Monte Carlo (MC) simulation results from a study of a compact plastic-scintillator detector suitable for imaging fast neutrons in the 1 – 10 MeV energy range: the miniTimeCube (mTC). Originally designed for antineutrino detection, the mTC consists of 24 MultiChannel Plate (MCP) photodetectors surrounding a 13 cm cube of boron-doped plastic scintillator. Our simulation results show that waveform digitization of 1536 optically sensitive channels surrounding the scintillator should allow for spatiotemporal determination of individual neutron-proton scatters in the detector volume to ∼ 100 picoseconds and ∼5 mm. A Bayesian estimation framework is presented for multiple-scatter reconstruction, and is used to estimate the incoming direction and energy of simulated individual neutrons. Finally, we show how populations of reconstructed neutrons can be used to estimate the direction and energy spectrum of nearby simulated neutron sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A prototype ePix100 detector was used in small-angle scattering geometry to capture speckle patterns from a static sample using the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) hard X-ray free-electron laser at 8.34 keV. The average number of detected photons per pixel per pulse was varied over three orders of magnitude from about 23 down to 0.01 to test the detector performance. At high average photon count rates, the speckle contrast was evaluated by analyzing the probability distribution of the pixel counts at a constant scattering vector for single frames. For very low average photon counts of less than 0.2 per pixel, the `droplet algorithm' was first applied to the patterns for correcting the effect of charge sharing, and then the pixel count statistics of multiple frames were analyzed collectively to extract the speckle contrast. Results obtained using both methods agree within the uncertainty intervals, providing strong experimental evidence for the validity of the statistical analysis. More importantly it confirms the suitability of the ePix100 detector for X-ray coherent scattering experiments, especially at very low count rates with performances surpassing those of previously available LCLS detectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large-Area Picosecond Photo-Detectors (LAPPDs) show great potential for expanding the performance envelope of Micro-Channel Plates (MCPs) to areas of up to 20×20 cm and larger. Such scaling introduces new challenges, including how to meet the electronics readout burden of ever larger area MCPs. One solution is to replace the traditional grid anode used for readout with a microwave stripline anode, thus allowing the channel count to scale with MCP width rather than area. However, stripline anodes introduce new issues not commonly dealt with in grid-anodes, especially as their length increases. One of these issues is the near simultaneous arrival of multiple photons on the detector, creating possible confusion about how to reconstruct their arrival times and positions. We propose a maximum a posteriori solution to the problem and verify its performance in simulated scintillator and water-Cherenkov detectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Free-electron lasers (FELs) present new challenges for camera development compared with conventional light sources. At SLAC a variety of technologies are being used to match the demands of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) and to support a wide range of scientific applications. In this paper an overview of X-ray detector design requirements at FELs is presented and the various cameras in use at SLAC are described for the benefit of users planning experiments or analysts looking at data. Features and operation of the CSPAD camera, which is currently deployed at LCLS, are discussed, and the ePix family, a new generation of cameras under development at SLAC, is introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The PSEC4 custom integrated circuit was designed for the recording of fast waveforms for use in large-area time-of-flight detector systems. The ASIC has been fabricated using the IBM-8RF CMOS process. On each of the six analog channels, PSEC4 employs a switched capacitor array (SCA) of 256 samples deep, a ramp-compare ADC with 10.5 bits of DC dynamic range, and a serial data readout with the capability of region-of-interest windowing to reduce dead time. The sampling rate can be adjusted between 4 and 15Gigasamples/second (GSa/s) on all channels and is servo-controlled on-chip with a low-jitter delay-locked loop (DLL). The input signals are passively coupled on-chip with a −3dB analog bandwidth of 1.5GHz. The power consumption in quiescent sampling mode is less than 50mW/chip; at a sustained trigger and a readout rate of 50kHz the chip draws 100mW. After fixed-pattern pedestal subtraction, the uncorrected integral non-linearity is 0.15% over a 750mV dynamic range. With a linearity correction, a full 1V signal voltage range is available. The sampling timebase has a fixed-pattern non-linearity with an RMS of 13%, which can be corrected for precision waveform feature extraction and timing. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The super-KEKB B factory, currently under construction at the KEK High Energy Accelerator Research Organization in Japan, has a goal of producing 50 ab^-1 of integrated luminosity, thus allowing the Belle II experiment to study rare decays of B mesons, D mesons, and \tau leptons. Such large statistics on these decays provide an experimental probe of physics beyond the Standard Model. An online trigger system is indispensable to Belle II to reduce the number of beam background events associated with high electron and positron beam currents, as well as to enhance physics-oriented events. For this purpose, we have designed the Belle II online trigger system with two kinds of primary Level 1 trigger components: a track trigger and an energy trigger. The track trigger is composed of 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional tracking algorithms, and the energy trigger implements algorithms based on total energy, isolated clusters, and identification of Bhabha events. In addition, precise event trigger timing and muon tagging information are provided by the time-of-propagation detector and iron flux return muon detector, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Time-Of-Propagation detector is a Cherenkov particle identification detector based on quartz radiator bars for the Belle II experiment at the SuperKEKB e + e − − collider. The purpose of the detector is to identify the type of charged hadrons produced in e + e − − collisions, and requires a single photon timing resolution below 100 picoseconds. A novel front-end electronic system was designed, built, and integrated to acquire data from the 8192 microchannel plate photomultiplier tube channels in the detector. Waveform sampling of these analog signals is done by switched-capacitor array application-specific integrated circuits. The processes of triggering, digitization of windows of interest, readout, and data transfer to the Belle II data acquisition system are managed by Xilinx Zynq-7000 programmable system on a chip devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]