A new front-end electronics chain for timing RPCs

Author

Blanco, A. ; Carolino, N. ; Fonte, P. ; Gobbi, A.

Author_Institution

Dept. de Fisica, Coimbra Univ., Portugal

Volume

2

fYear

2000

fDate

2000

Abstract

Recent advances in electronics and counter construction techniques have pushed the timing resolution of Resistive Plate Chambers below 50 ps σ, with a detection efficiency of 99% for MIPs. In this paper we describe a new front end electronic chain for accurate time and charge measurement in these devices. The circuit includes a fast (2.5 GHz) two-stage amplifier based on MMICs that feeds a fixed threshold discriminator followed by an external TDC. The amplified signal is also buffered into an external ADC for charge digitisation. All components are commercially available and their number is rather reduced. The system was tested with realistic detector-generated test signals, yielding a timing resolution around 10 ps σ for signal charges above 100 fC and a charge resolution of 3.2 fC

Keywords

MMIC amplifiers; discriminators; ionisation chambers; nuclear electronics; position sensitive particle detectors; timing circuits; Resistive Plate Chambers; amplified signal; charge digitisation; charge resolution; counter construction techniques; detection efficiency; fixed threshold discriminator; front-end electronics chain; timing resolution; two-stage amplifier; Accuracy; Charge measurement; Circuit testing; Counting circuits; Detectors; Feeds; Signal resolution; Space charge; System testing; Timing;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record, 2000 IEEE

Conference_Location

Lyon

ISSN

1082-3654

Print_ISBN

0-7803-6503-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/NSSMIC.2000.949911

Filename

949911