Measurement of the resolution of a combined hodoscope calorimeter at 18 GeV and 38 GeV

The energy and spatial resolution of a combined detector consisting of the Cherenkov photon calorimeter GAMS-2000 and the modular hadron calorimeter MHC-100 has been studied at 18.5 and 38 GeV incident pion energies at the IHEP accelerator. The energy resolution of the combined setup is substantially improved by applying a correction based on the analysis of the lateral development of hadron showers in GAMS and MHC. It is shown that the parameters of the correction depend only weakly on the hadron energy. The influence of the gap between both photon and hadron calorimeters on the combined detector characteristics is of less importance with increasing energy.     

A Metallic Magnetic Calorimeter for Hard X-Ray and Gamma Ray Spectrometry

The CEA/LNHB is responsible for the determination and publication of atomic and nuclear data such as X-ray and gamma ray emission probabilities. In order to reduce uncertainties on the determination of these data, a high energy resolution associated with a good intrinsic detection efficiency is required. Hence taking into account these two aspects, we are developing cryogenic detectors, especially metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMCs) for photon spectrometry from few keV up to 200 keV. A MMC using a meander pick-up coil made of niobium thin films has been optimized. The gold absorber (diameter: 1.1 mm, thickness: 335 μm) has an intrinsic detection efficiency larger than 70% for photons from few keV up to 100 keV. From an energy spectrum obtained with a ¹³³Ba multi-gamma source, we have characterized this first detector. The energy resolution is 320 eV and 560 eV respectively at 30 keV and 357 keV. Possible improvements of the performance of the detector are discussed.     

The segmentation of hadron calorimeters

Optimization of the segmentation of large hadron calorimeters is important in order to obtain good resolution for jet physics at minimum construction cost for the next generation of high energy experiments. The principles of the segmentation of hadron calorimeters are discussed. As an example, the Monte Carlo optimization of the segmentation of the L3 hadron calorimeter barrel at CERN is described. Comparisons of results for the reconstructed jet shapes show that the optimum number ADC channels is about 20K for the readout of 450K wires of the proportional chambers. The matching between the sandwiched φ towers and Z towers is the dominant factor for angular resolution. Based on these Monte Carlo simulations, an optimized tower structure is obtained.     

Test of a prototype of the ZEUS backing calorimeter

We have studied the performance of a high resolution uranium-scintillator calorimeter followed by a much coarser backing calorimeter, made out of iron plates interleaved with planes of limited streamer tubes. The test results, obtained at the CERN-SPS hadron beam, show that the backing calorimeter can be used either to veto events with significant energy leakage from the uranium calorimeter or to correct for the energy. In both cases the energy resolution of the combined calorimeters improves significantly compared to the uranium calorimeter alone.     

Hadron showers in iron and muon identification

We report on measurements of the punchthrough probability of high energy hadrons as a function of iron depth and hadron energy. These measurements were made in the Fermilab Meson Bottom test beam. The hadron momentum range was from 12 to 200 GeV/c and the maximum iron depth explored was 250 cm. Hadron shower characteristics as a function of iron depth and hadron energy are shown and compared with other data. Characteristics of a proportional tube detector and the use of such a detector in a muon identification system are described. The muon identification efficiency is studied for several configurations. Each configuration differs in the thickness of the steel absorbers and their locations among chambers.     

Performance of a lead glass spectrometer at high energies

The performance of a photon detector consisting of two lead glass arrays and three planes of proportional tubes is reported. The detector was designed to measure the energies and positions of photons in the energy range 3–50 GeV. An energy resolution of $\text{1.0\% +}\text{5.0\%}\text{√E}$ (standard deviation) and a spatial resolution approaching 3 mm (standard deviation) were achieved during calibration with a low intensity positron beam. The energy resolution was degraded during use with a high intensity hadron beam whereas the spatial resolution was only slightly affected.     

Performance of a BGO calorimeter with photodiode readout and with photomultiplier readout at energies up to 10 GeV

Bismuth germanate (BGO) calorimeter arrays, consisting of up to 12 elements of 30 × 30 × 200 mm³ have been tested at the CERN PS with pions and electrons of up to 10 GeV/c momentum, and at SIN with pions, electrons and protons up to 450 MeV/c. Both photomultiplier (PM) and photodiode (PD) readouts were used. Accurate calibration in the 100 MeV energy range was achieved with stopping protons, stopping pions and minimum ionizing pions. With 212 MeV electrons and PM readout, a time resolution of the BGO signal of 640 ps fwhm has been measured. The energy resolution for electrons above 1 GeV (PD readout) was found to be roughly constant at σ/E ～ 1%. This is consistent with a negligible intrinsic resolution for BGO at these energies, after taking into account shower leakage and PD noise. For electrons of 92 and 200 MeV, we obtained (PM readout) energy resolutions close to the theoretical limit given by photon statistics and shower leakage. The electron/hadron separation was better than 1:500 over the energy range of 0.5 to 10 GeV, and improved to better than 1:1000 after a simple pattern cut. The energy deposition of the e.m. showers, both laterally and longitudinally (rear leakage), was found to be in agreement at the 0.1% level with Monte Carlo calculations using the SLAC-EGS program.     

The e/h ratio and energy resolution of hadron calorimeters

The e/h ratio and the energy resolution for a variety of experimental test setups are compared with Monte Carlo calculations, using the GHEISHA/EGS hadronic and electromagnetic cascade code. The compensation mechanism in uranium calorimeters is discussed. The dependence of the e/h ratio and the energy resolution on the absorber and detector material, on the sampling thickness and the thickness of the detector material is studied in detail. Solutions for uranium calorimeters with equal response to electrons and hadrons are investigated for different readout techniques.     

Thermal detection of particles using bolometric devices

Low temperature calorimeters can be used to measure the energy released by a single particle with very high resolution.We have developed a system for studying the behaviour of various kinds of calorimeters from the point of view of their thermoelectrical properties and also their characteristics as particle detectors. Preliminary experimental results of a composite detector are shown (the resolution is 3% for the 8.78 MeV α-line from ²²⁸Ra). Future developments both for optimizing the resolution and improving the system performances are briefly discussed.     

maXs: Microcalorimeter Arrays for High-Resolution X-Ray Spectroscopy at GSI/FAIR

Highly-charged heavy ions like U⁹¹⁺ provide unique conditions for the investigation of relativistic and quantum electrodynamical effects in strong electromagnetic fields. We present two X-ray detectors developed for high-resolution spectroscopy on highly-charged heavy ions. Both detectors consist of metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMCs) forming linear eight-pixel arrays. The first detector, maXs-20, is developed for the detection of X-rays up to 20?keV with an energy resolution below 3?eV. The second device, maXs-200, is designed for X-ray energies up to 200?keV with an energy resolution of 40?eV. The results of characterization measurements of single detectors of both arrays will be shown and discussed. In both cases, the performance of the detectors agrees well with their design values. Furthermore, we present a prototype MMC for soft X-rays with improved magnetic flux coupling. In first characterization measurements the energy resolution of this device was 2.0?eV (FWHM) for X-rays up to 6?keV.     

Pulse shapes in single photon,single particle calorimeters

Single photon or single particle calorimeters with energy resolutions of order 1 eV fwhm have recently been proposed as detectors for X-ray astronomy and many other applications. Such devices consist, essentially, of an absorber (linked to a heat bath at ∼ 0.1 K) and one or more thermistors The temperature rise induced in the former element by the absorption of a single photon or particle produces voltage waveforms at the ouput of the latter from which energy information may be abstracted. In this paper, we consider the practical limits to the energy resolution which arise from the “thermal nonuniformity” of the absorber mass. The variation in thermistor pulse shape with position of photon absorption is estimated from solutions of the heat conduction equation, for a number of linear calorimeter designs. An assessment is made of the position-sensing properties of a calorimeter with two line-end thermistors.     

Metallic Magnetic Calorimeters for Particle Detection

The principles and theory of operation of a magnetic calorimeter, made of a dilute concentration of paramagnetic ions in a metallic host, is discussed in relation to the use of such a device as a detector of x-rays. The response of a calorimeter to the absorption of energy depends upon size, heat capacity, temperature, magnetic field, concentration of spins and interactions among them. The conditions that optimize the performance of a calorimeter are derived. Noise sources, especially that due to thermodynamic fluctuations of the electrons in the metal, are analyzed. Measurements have been made on detectors in which Er serves as the paramagnetic ion and Au as the host metal. The measured resolution of a detector with a heat capacity of 10^–12 J/K was 12 eV at 6 keV. In a detector suitable for use with hard x-rays up to 200 keV a resolution of 120 eV was obtained. Calculations indicate that the performance of both detectors can be improved by an order of magnitude. At temperatures below 50 mK, the time response of the Au : Er calorimeters to an energy deposition indicates the presence of an additional heat capacity, which we interpret as arising from the quadruple splitting of the Au nuclei in the electric field gradients introduced by the presence of the Er ions.     

Development of an energy-binned photon-counting detector for X-ray and gamma-ray imaging

The aim of this study is to develop an energy-binned photon-counting (EBPC) detector that enables us to provide energy information of x-rays with a reasonable count statistics. We used Al-pixel/CdTe/Pt semiconductor detectors, which had an active area of 8 mm×144 mm and consisted of 18 modules aligned linearly. The size of a CdTe detector module was 8 mm×8 mm and the thickness of the CdTe crystal was 1 mm. Each module consisted of 40×40 pixels and the pixel size was 200 μm×200 μm. We applied the bias voltage of −500 V to the Pt common electrode. The detector counted the number of x-ray photons with four different energy windows, and output four energy-binned images with pixel depths of 12, 12, 11 and 10 bits at a frame rate of 1200 Hz (300 Hz×4 energy bins). The basic performance of the detector was evaluated in several experiments. The results showed that the detector realized the photon counting rate of 0.4×10⁶ counts/sec/pixel (10⁷ counts/sec/mm²), energy resolution 4.4% FWHM at 122 keV. The integral uniformity of the detector was about 1% and the differential uniformity was about 1%. In addition, the image quality was examined with a resolution chart and step-wedge phantoms made of aluminum and polymethyl methacrylate. And we compared the quality of an acquired image with that acquired with an energy integration detector. The results of these experiments showed that the developed detector had desirable intrinsic characteristics for x-ray photon counting imaging.     

A high-granularity scintillator calorimeter readout with silicon photomultipliers

We report on the design, construction and performance of a prototype for a high-granularity tile hadronic calorimeter for a future international linear collider detector. Scintillating tiles are read out via wavelength-shifting fibers that guide the scintillation light to a novel photodetector, the silicon photomultiplier. A prototype has been tested using a positron test beam at DESY. The results are compared with a reference prototype calorimeter equipped with multichannel vacuum photomultipliers. Detector calibration, noise, linearity and stability are discussed, and the energy response in a 1–6 GeV positron beam is compared with simulations. The present results demonstrate that the silicon photomultiplier is well-suited as photodetectors in calorimeters and thus has been selected for the construction of a calorimeter prototype to operate in hadron beams.     

Metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMC): detectors for high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy

X-ray detectors based on the concept of magnetic calorimetry are well suited for high-resolution spectroscopy. Metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMC) make use of a metallic paramagnetic temperature sensor, which is in tight thermal contact with a metallic X-ray absorber. The paramagnetic sensor is placed in a small magnetic field. Its magnetization is used to monitor the temperature, which in turn is related to the internal energy of the calorimeter. High-energy resolution can be obtained by using a low-noise, high-bandwidth DC SQUID to measure the small change in magnetization upon the absorption of an X-ray. With recent prototype detectors an energy resolution of ΔE_FWHM=3.4 eV for X-ray energies up to 6.5 keV has been achieved. We discuss general design considerations, the thermodynamic properties of such calorimeters, the energy resolution, and the various sources of noise, which are observed in MMCs.     

Advanced x-ray detectors for the analysis of materials

A crucial need exists to analyze the composition of materials nondestructively. Energy-dispersive spectrometers are widely used to perform this function, but their performance is limited by the energy resolution of the detector, typically 150 eV for Si(Li) at 6 keV. Calorimeters and tunnel junctions offer more than an order of magnitude improvement in energy resolution, with the prospect of vast improvements in performance for quantitative analysis. We present an analysis of the critical issues pertaining to the use of calorimeters for quantitative materials analysis, and show that significant performance advantages may be realized with the energy resolutions already achieved. We also describe other x-ray analysis methods for determining the chemical state of the material to be studied, which also may benefit from calorimeter technology.     

High Energy Resolution Cryogenic Alpha Spectrometers Using Magnetic Calorimeters

We report the recent progress on high resolution alpha spectrometers that use metallic magnetic calorimeters. The detector is composed of a meander-type magnetic calorimeter and a gold-foil absorber. The thermal connection between the magnetic sensor and the absorber consists of annealed gold wires. The signal rise time is found to be as expected, with the electronic thermal conductance of gold wires. The energy resolution of a 3.2?keV FWHM is obtained for 5.5?MeV alpha particles with possibilities for further improvements.     

Effects of light guides and optical filters for a high density lead glass counter

Effects of various light guides on energy resolution, position dependence of the output pulse and the hadron suppression factor were studied for a high density lead glass counter with particles of energies between 1 GeV and 16 GeV. The best hadron suppression factor was obtained for a configuration with a plastic light guide and a short wave cutoff filter at little expense to energy resolution. The energy resolution is worse at high energy and is dependent on the hit position of an incident particle for a BK7 light guide.     

Possible use of CdTe detectors in kVp monitoring of diagnostic x-ray tubes

It has been suggested that kVp of diagnostic X-ray devices (or maximal energy of x-ray photon spectra) should be monitored routinely; however a standardized noninvasive technique has yet to be developed and proposed. It is well known that the integral number of Compton scattered photons and the intensities of fluorescent x-ray lines registered after irradiation of some material by an x-ray beam are a function of the maximal beam energy. CdTe detectors have sufficient energy resolution to distinguish individual x-ray fluorescence lines and high efficiency for the photon energies in the diagnostic region. Our initial measurements have demonstrated that the different ratios of the integral number of Compton scattered photons and intensities of K and L fluorescent lines detected by CdTe detector are sensitive function of maximal photon energy and could be successfully applied for kVp monitoring.