The lead role of the Romanian LHCb Group in the development of a fast and high-granularity photodetector readout system with pico-second timing resolution for LHCb-RICH
Over the last decade the Romanian LHCb Group (DFPE, IFIN-HH) has been involved significantly in the upgrade program of the LHCb-RICH sub-detectors and had vital contributions to the success of the program. Within the RICH and LHCb collaboration, the group contributed with radiation hardness tests and firmware developments for the FPGA chip embedded in the RICH front-end electronics, same electronics which is currently taking collision data during LHC RUN3 since early 2023. As the HL-LHC era is approaching, the RICH sub-detectors will be upgraded in two steps. The first phase of upgrade, which will take place during the third long shutdown of LHC, will consist in replacing the electronic readout chain with new and cutting-edge technology, so it records Cherenkov photon times with picosecond precision and for much higher instantaneous LHC luminosity. The second upgrade phase (during LS4) will consist in replacing the optical sensors while keeping the same electronic chain architecture. In collaboration with other institutes - e.g., CERN, University of Cambridge, University of Barcelona, INFN sections of Ferrara, Genova and Padova from Italy, JSI Institute from Slovenia and other institutes from UK and Italy - we developed prototypes of photo-detection modules capable to time-tag the prompt Cherenkov photons with about 3 to 12 ps resolution. The systems were successfully tested and validated in the lab and in test beam campaigns at a Super Proton Synchrotron facility within CERN, and now they represent the main core of this R&D activity, in the preparation for the HL-LHC particle collisions.
For more information: https://home.cern/news/news/experiments/upgrading-lhcb-sub-detectors-hl-lhc
For more pictures: https://cds.cern.ch/record/2898835
