SBIR-STTR Award

A cost-effective time-of-flight (TOF) particle detector will improve particle identification at much higher momentum than is possible with dE/dx methods at next generation particle accelerators. Particle identification will in turn enable improved determination of the temperature of the fireball from which these particles are created. This project will build and test a low-cost TOF data acquisition system with time resolution of 50 - 100 picoseconds, based on two previously developed technologies: (1) high performance amplifier and discriminator electronics, and (2) time-to-digital converter chips developed at CERN. In Phase I, two time-of-flight data acquisition circuit cards, with time resolution of 50 to 100 picoseconds, will be designed using two different time-to-digital converter chips designed for high energy physics research. Their performance in the laboratory will be tested with scintillation detectors and resistive-plate chamber (RPC) detectors. In Phase II, the electronics for the TOF data system will be manufactured in the large volumes, combined with existing detectors, added to a high-speed communications link, and integrated into a detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC).

Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee:
The TOF data acquisition system should present a cost-effective solution to TOF measurement for particle identification in heavy ion collisions. Hundreds of systems would be required for a variety of high energy and nuclear physic experiments. In addition, rapidly growing markets would exist in TOF mass spectrometry, gas chromatography, and Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) for remote sensing, terrain mapping, and other applications

This project will develop a Time-of-Flight (TOF) detector to significantly extend the reach of the Solenoidal Tracker the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (STAR).  In particular, the percentage of kaons and protons that could be identified would be doubled to more than 95% of all those produced in central Au+Au collisions.  Combined with existing STAR detectors, the additional capability provided by the TOF detector would allow STAR to extract the maximum amount of information available.  TOF particle identification will require low jitter amplification of 50 x 10-15 C charge pulses and 100ps aggregate start-stop timing resolution, with no more than 50ps timing resolution from the electronics chain.  Phase I designed, built, and demonstrated a second generation, 24-channel, amplifier/discriminator circuit and a time-to-digital (TDC) circuit.  Tested together, these circuits demonstrated sub-50ps start-stop resolution performance.  Phase II will scale up the TDC circuit to 24 channels.  The analog and TDC circuits will be combined with data communications circuits for interface with STAR.  The detectors and electronics will be integrated at the multiple-tray level, and the resulting 192-channel modules will be tested both with cosmic rays and at STAR.  Further, TDC electronics will be adapted for stand-alone operation. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by awardee:  TDC circuits are commonly used in some types time-of-flight mass spectrometers that are becoming basic research and production tools for the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.  Also, TDCs, in combination with lasers, have potential large-scale application in atmospheric sensing, terrain mapping, and three-dimensional structural imaging