Beam tests of a large-scale TORCH time-of-flight demonstrator

T. H. Hancock, S. Bhasin, T. Blake, N. Brook, T. Conneely, D. Cussans, C. Frei, R. Forty, E. P.M. Gabriel, R. Gao, T. Gershon, T. Gys, T. Hadavizadeh, N. Harnew, M. Kreps, J. Milnes, D. Piedigrossi, J. Rademacker, M. van Dijk

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

The TORCH time-of-flight detector is designed to provide particle identification in the momentum range 2−10GeV∕c over large areas. The detector exploits prompt Cherenkov light produced by charged particles traversing a 10mm thick quartz plate. The photons propagate via total internal reflection and are focused onto a detector plane comprising position-sensitive Micro-Channel Plate Photo-Multiplier Tubes (MCP-PMT)detectors. The goal is to achieve a single-photon timing resolution of 70ps, giving a timing precision of 15ps per charged particle by combining the information from around 30 detected photons. The MCP-PMT detectors have been developed with a commercial partner (Photek Ltd, UK), leading to the delivery of a square tube of active area 53×53mm 2 with a granularity of 8×128pixels equivalent. A large-scale demonstrator of TORCH, having a quartz plate of dimensions 660×1250×10mm 3 and read out by a pair of MCP-PMTs with custom readout electronics, has been verified in a test beam campaign at the CERN PS. Preliminary results indicate that the required performance is close to being achieved. The anticipated performance of a full-scale TORCH detector at the LHCb experiment is presented.

Funding

The support is acknowledged of the Science and Technology Research Council, UK , grant number ST/P002692/1 , and of the European Research Council through an FP7 Advanced Grant ( ERC-2011-AdG 299175-TORCH ).

Keywords

  • Cherenkov radiation
  • LHCb upgrade
  • Micro-channel plate photo-multiplier tubes
  • Particle identification
  • Time-of-flight

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Nuclear and High Energy Physics
  • Instrumentation

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