0000000000126296
AUTHOR
D. Bongiovanni
A laser-based system for a fast and accurate measurement of gain and linearity of photomultipliers
This paper describes a method for the measurement of gain and linearity of photomultipliers (PMTs). Gain and linearity are two fundamental parameters to use properly a PMT in several physics experiments. In the developed system light is laser generated and adressed to the PMT through a set of optical fibers. The data acquisition system consists in a commercial 16 channel digitizer coupled to a custom front-end board. With the chosen digitizer the system is scalable to test up to 16 PMTs, with the aid of a light distribution system and a multi-channel version of the front-end board. Data analysis is performed by a custom acquisition software. A 1.5» Hamamatsu PMT is used to validate the syst…
The NUMEN project @ LNS: Status and perspectives
The NUMEN project aims at accessing experimentally driven information on Nuclear Matrix Elements (NME) involved in the half-life of the neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ), by high-accuracy measurements of Heavy Ion (HI) induced Double Charge Exchange (DCE) reaction cross sections. In particular, the (18O,18Ne) and (20Ne,20O) reactions are used as tools for β+β+ and β−β− decays, respectively. In the experiments, performed at INFN - Laboratory Nazionali del Sud (LNS) in Catania, the beams are accelerated by the Superconducting Cyclotron (CS) and the reaction ejectiles are detected the MAGNEX magnetic spectrometer. The measured cross sections are challengingly low (a few nb), being the tota…
A facility to validate photomultipliers for the upgrade of the Pierre Auger Observatory.
The Pierre Auger Observatory is undergoing a major upgrade named AugerPrime with the primary aim to add sensitivity to the mass-composition discrimination of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays. Two different photomultipliers will be added to each water-Cherenkov station of the surface detector of Observatory. To achieve the scientific goals of AugerPrime these photomultipliers have to ensure a linear response to input-light in a wide range. This paper describes a system developed for the validation of AugerPrime-photomultipliers.
Extensive electrical model of large area silicon photomultipliers
Abstract In this paper the full electrical model of silicon photomultipliers fabricated at STMicroelectronics Catania R&D clean room facilities is presented. An accurate investigation on both SiPM single microcell and entire SiPM structure to extrapolate all the electrical elements has been executed by means of dedicated characterizations carried out on appropriate layout structure. The electrical simulations results are compared to the experimental data showing a good fit and therefore verifying the accuracy of the proposed model. This model can be used to describe all the SiPMs with different sizes manufactured using the same technology. Moreover, starting from this extensive electrical m…
Measuring nuclear reaction cross sections to extract information on neutrinoless double beta decay
Neutrinoless double beta decay (0v\b{eta}\b{eta}) is considered the best potential resource to access the absolute neutrino mass scale. Moreover, if observed, it will signal that neutrinos are their own anti-particles (Majorana particles). Presently, this physics case is one of the most important research "beyond Standard Model" and might guide the way towards a Grand Unified Theory of fundamental interactions. Since the 0v\b{eta}\b{eta} decay process involves nuclei, its analysis necessarily implies nuclear structure issues. In the NURE project, supported by a Starting Grant of the European Research Council (ERC), nuclear reactions of double charge-exchange (DCE) are used as a tool to extr…
NURE: An ERC project to study nuclear reactions for neutrinoless double beta decay
Neutrinoless double beta decay (0{\nu}\b{eta}\b{eta}) is considered the best potential resource to determine the absolute neutrino mass scale. Moreover, if observed, it will signal that the total lepton number is not conserved and neutrinos are their own anti-particles. Presently, this physics case is one of the most important research beyond Standard Model and might guide the way towards a Grand Unified Theory of fundamental interactions. Since the \b{eta}\b{eta} decay process involves nuclei, its analysis necessarily implies nuclear structure issues. The 0{\nu}\b{eta}\b{eta} decay rate can be expressed as a product of independent factors: the phase-space factors, the nuclear matrix elemen…