The PRISMA detector laboratory promotes cooperation and the exchange of experience and technology within PRISMA+

It provides laboratories and workspaces to offer scientists with different hardware expertise a shared research environment and infrastructure. As part of this collaboration, the detector laboratory offers access to its own special laboratories, high-quality equipment and design software. The electron and photon beams at MAMI and the irradiation facility at the TRIGA reactor are also available for the examination and characterization of detectors and electronics.

To support the experimental activities in all fields of research, the detector laboratory is divided into four areas:

Electronics
Design of high-speed boards for fast data analysis and digitization, analog signal processing circuits, low-noise and low-power systems, triggerless architectures, and radiation-hard electronics.

Light sensors
Single-photon sensitivity, high detection efficiency, large active areas and/or high granularity, e.g. for use in calorimeters, Cherenkov detectors and astroparticle physics experiments.

Tracking detectors and Time Projection Chambers
For example, for systems with excellent spatial resolution at high intensities, large-area gas detectors, Time Projection Chambers (TPC) based on liquefied noble gases, Gas-Electron-Multiplier (GEM) and Micromegas applications.

Laboratory for Scintillation and Fluorescence Detectors (LSFD)
As part of PRISMA+, new infrastructure is being built for the development and characterization of scintillation and fluorescence materials.

Examples of projects:

ATLAS

  • Construction of drift panels for the upgrade of the muon detector (completed)
  • Prototype board of the topological trigger for the calorimeter, with fast multi-FPGA data processing and optical communication
  • Feasibility studies for the High Granularity Timing Detector

CALICE

  • Characterization of silicon photomultipliers (SiPM)
  • Development and testing of high-granularity calorimeter components
  • Automated assembly of SiPM readout boards with scintillator tiles (completed)

ICECUBE / ICECUBE-GEN2

  • Characterization of photomultipliers (PMT)
  • Research and development for the electronics and tests of the Digital Optical Module

MAGIX at the MESA accelerator

  • Feasibility studies for focal plane tracking detectors

P2 at the MESA accelerator

  • Research and development for the track reconstruction system based on monolithic pixel detectors

XENON1T / XENONnT

  • Characterization of the optical properties of the muon veto (completed)
  • Measurement and scanning of high-voltage electrode planes

The Detector Lab also provides a venue for project-independent longer-term research and development activities in the field of new, innovative detector technologies. In addition to regular user meetings, the Detector Lab organizes technical seminars with external spokespersons to provide an overview of modern technologies and other topics of interest to the experimental physicists as well as engineers and technical staff in the PRISMA+ cluster.

The Detector Laboratory can draw on numerous modern laboratories as well as innovative measuring and test stands. This infrastructure forms the basis for the successful development of new detectors and the construction of complex detector components.

  • Electrical workbenches, microscope, thermal imaging camera, function generator, oscilloscopes
  • FPGA Development Kits, System-On-Chip and Single-Board-Computer Programming
  • Electronic Design Automation and CAD Tools (Cadence, Mentor, Xilinx, Altera, COMSOL)
  • Dark laboratory and boxes, optical tables (with lasers, lamps, xyz systems)
  • Climate chamber and laminar flow units
  • Gas and high-voltage supply, mass spectrometer, radioactive sources
  • Vacuum oven and vacuum distillation plant
  • Laser engraving device

February 19 – 23, 2024: 16TH TERASCALE DETECTOR WORKSHOP

From the afternoon of Monday 19th to the morning of Wednesday 21st, about 30 early career researchers registered for the workshop attended the PRISMA+ School 2024, organised and taught by Dr. Stefan Schoppmann, Dr. Quirin Weitzel and the members of the PRISMA+ Detector Laboratory. After an introductory lecture on silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) and plastic and liquid scintillators, the participants started with hands-on laboratory sessions.

September 26 – 30, 2022: PRISMA+ SCHOOL 2022 | Photon Detection and FPGAs in Particle Detectors

The School addressed master students, Ph.D. students, and postdoctoral researchers aiming to work with particle detectors based on photosensors and FPGAs. It introduced the concepts and technologies including light creation, propagation and detection as well as the associated electronics for signal acquisition.