Silicon photomultiplier readout of a monolithic 270×5×5 cm3 plastic scintillator bar for time of flight applications


Silicon photomultiplier readout of a monolithic 270×5×5 cm3 plastic scintillator bar for time of flight applications

Reinhardt, T. P.; Gohl, S.; Reinicke, S.; Bemmerer, D.; Cowan, T. E.; Heidel, K.; Röder, M.; Stach, D.; Wagner, A.; Weinberger, D.; Zuber, K.

The detection of 200-1000MeV neutrons requires large amounts, ∼100 cm, of detector material because of the long nuclear interaction length of these particles. In the example of the NeuLAND neutron time-of-flight detector at FAIR, this is accomplished by using 3000 monolithic scintillator bars of 270×5×5 cm3 size made of a fast plastic. Each bar is read out on the two long ends, and the needed time resolution of sigma_t < 150 ps is reached using fast timing photomultipliers. In the present work, it is investigated whether silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) photosensors can be used instead. Experiments with a picosecond laser system were conducted to determine the timing response of the SiPM-preamplifier assembly. The response of the full system including the scintillator was studied using 30MeV single electrons provided by the ELBE superconducting electron linac. The ELBE data were matched by a simple Monte Carlo simulation, and they were found to obey an inverse-square-root scaling law. In the electron beam tests, a time resolution of sigma_t = 136 ps was reached with a pure SiPM readout, well within the design parameters for NeuLAND.

Keywords: Time of flight detector; Neutron detector; FAIR; Nuclear Astrophysics; Silicon Photomultiplier; Avalanche Photodiode; Picosecond laser system; Photomultiplier

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Publ.-Id: 22968