Scintillating fiber detector performance, detector geometries, trigger, and electronics issues for scintillating fiber tracking

Scintillating fiber tracking technology has made great advances and has demonstrated great potential for high speed charged particle tracking and triggering. The small detector sizes and fast scintillation fluors available make them very promising for use at high luminosity experiments at todayʹs and tomorrowʹs colliding and fixed target experiments where high rate capability is essential. This paper will discuss the current state of scintillating fiber performance and current Visual Light Photon Counter (VLPC) characteristics. The primary topic will be some of the system design and integration issues which should be considered by anyone attempting to design a scintillating fiber tracking system which includes a high speed tracking trigger. Design constraints placed upon the detector system by the electronics and mechanical sub-systems will be discussed. Seemingly simple and unrelated decisions can have far reaching effects on overall system performance. SDC and D0 example system designs will be discussed.