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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 181 records · Page 10
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

The IDEA detector concept for FCC-ee

A detector concept, named IDEA, optimized for the physics and running conditions at the FCC-ee is presented. After discussing the expected running conditions and the main physics drivers, a detailed description of the individual sub-detectors is given. These include: a very light tracking system with a powerful vertex detector inside a large drift chamber surrounded by a silicon wrapper, a high resolution dual readout crystal electromagnetic calorimeter, an HTS based superconducting solenoid, a dual readout fiber calorimeter and three layers of muon chambers embedded in the magnet flux return yoke. Some examples of the expected detector performance, based on fast and full simulation, are also given.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2025

A gravity-based mounting approach for large-scale cryogenic calorimeter arrays

Cryogenic calorimeters are among the leading technologies for searching for rare events. The CUPID experiment is exploiting this technology to deploy a tonne-scale detector to search for neutrinoless double-beta decay of 100 Mo. The CUPID collaboration proposed an innovative approach to assembling cryogenic calorimeters in a stacked configuration, held in position solely by gravity. This gravity-based assembly method is unprecedented in the field of cryogenic calorimeters and offers several advantages, including relaxed mechanical tolerances and simplified construction. To assess and optimize its performance, we constructed a medium-scale prototype hosting 28 Li 2 MoO 4 crystals and 30 Ge light detectors, both operated as cryogenic calorimeters at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (Italy). Despite an unexpected excess of noise in the light detectors, the results of this test proved (i) a thermal stability better than ±0.5 mK at 10 mK, (ii) a good energy resolution of Li 2 MoO 4 cryogenic calorimeters, (6.6 ± 2.2) keV FWHM at 2615 keV, and (iii) a Li 2 MoO 4 light yield measured by the closest light detector of 0.36 keV/MeV, sufficient to guarantee the particle identification requested by CUPID.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Measured and projected beam backgrounds in the Belle II experiment at the SuperKEKB collider

The Belle II experiment at the SuperKEKB electron–positron collider aims to collect an unprecedented data set of 50 ab -1 to study CP -violation in the B -meson system and to search for Physics beyond the Standard Model. SuperKEKB is already the world’s highest-luminosity collider. In order to collect the planned data set within approximately one decade, the target is to reach a peak luminosity of 6 x 10 35 cm −2 s −1 by further increasing the beam currents and reducing the beam size at the interaction point by squeezing the betatron function down to β $^*_y$ = 0.3 mm. To ensure detector longevity and maintain good reconstruction performance, beam backgrounds must remain well controlled. We report on current background rates in Belle II and compare these against simulation. We find that a number of recent refinements have significantly improved the background simulation accuracy. Finally, we estimate the safety margins going forward. We predict that backgrounds should remain high but acceptable until a luminosity of at least 2.8 x 10 35 cm −2 s −1 is reached for β $^*_y$ = 0.6 mm. At this point, the most vulnerable Belle II detectors, the Time-of-Propagation (TOP) particle identification system and the Central Drift Chamber (CDC), have predicted background hit rates from single-beam and luminosity backgrounds that add up to approximately half of the maximum acceptable rates.

Detector background↗
DOE OSTI2021

A dual high-energy radiography platform with 15 μ m resolution at the National Ignition Facility

To study matter at extreme densities and pressures, we need mega laser facilities such as the National Ignition Facility as well as creative methods to make observations during timescales of a billionth of a second. To facilitate this, we developed a platform and diagnostic to characterize a new point-projection radiography configuration using two micro-wires irradiated by a short pulse laser system that provides a large field of view with up to 3.6 ns separation between images. In this work, we used tungsten-carbide solid spheres as reference objects and inferred characteristics of the back-lighter source using a forward-fitting algorithm. The resolution of the system is inferred to be 15 μm (using 12.5 μm diameter wires). The bremsstrahlung temperature of the source is 70–300 keV, depending on laser energy and coupling efficiency. By adding the images recorded on multiple stacked image plates, the signal-to-noise of the system is nearly doubled. The imaging characterization technique described here can be adapted to most point-projection platforms where the resolution, spectral contrast, and signal-to-noise are important.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2025

Characterization of the Cherenkov Photon Background for Low-noise Silicon Detectors in Space

Future space observatories that seek to perform imaging and spectroscopy of faint astronomical sources will require ultra-low-noise detectors that are sensitive over a broad wavelength range. Silicon charge-coupled devices (CCDs), such as EMCCDs, skipper CCDs, multi-amplifier sensing CCDs, and single-electron sensitive read out CCDs have demonstrated the ability to detect and measure single photons from X-ray energies to near the silicon band gap (∼1.1 μm), making them candidate technologies for this application. Here, in this context, we study a relatively unexplored source of low-energy background coming from Cherenkov radiation produced by energetic cosmic rays traversing a silicon detector. We present a model for Cherenkov photon production and absorption that is calibrated to laboratory data, and we use this model to characterize the residual background rate for ultra-low-noise silicon detectors in space. We study how the Cherenkov background rate depends on detector thickness, variations in solar activity, and the contribution of heavy cosmic ray species (Z > 2). We find that for thick silicon detectors, such as those required to achieve high quantum efficiency at long wavelengths, the rate of cosmic-ray-induced Cherenkov photon production is comparable to other detector and astrophysical backgrounds. We apply our Cherenkov background model to simulated spectroscopic observations of extra-solar planets, and we find that thick detectors continue to outperform their thinner counterparts at longer wavelengths despite a larger Cherenkov background rate. Furthermore, we find that minimal masking of cosmic-ray tracks continues to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio of very faint sources despite the existence of extended halos of Cherenkov photons.

Astronomical detectors↗
DOE OSTI2020

Comparative scintillation performance of EJ-309, EJ-276, and a novel organic glass

An organic glass scintillator developed by Sandia National Laboratories was characterized in terms of its light output and pulse shape discrimination (PSD) properties and compared to commercial liquid (EJ-309) and plastic (EJ-276) organic scintillators. The electron light output was determined through relative comparison of the 137 Cs Compton edge location. The proton light yield was measured using a double time-of-flight technique at the 88-Inch Cyclotron at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Using a tunable broad-spectrum neutron source and an array of pulse-shape-discriminating observation scintillators, a continuous measurement of the proton light yield was performed for EJ-309 (200 keV–3.2 MeV), EJ-276 (170 keV–4.9 MeV), and the organic glass (50 keV–20 MeV) . Finally, the PSD properties of the organic glass, EJ-309, and EJ-276 were evaluated using an AmBe source and compared via a figure-of-merit metric. The organic glass exhibited a higher electron light output than both EJ-309 and EJ-276. Its proton light yield and PSD performance were comparable to EJ-309 and superior to that of EJ-276. Finally, with these performance characteristics, the organic glass scintillator is well poised to replace current state-of-the-art PSD-capable scintillators in a range of fast neutron detection applications.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2021

Test beam study of SiPM-on-tile configurations

Light yield and spatial uniformity for a large variety of configurations of scintillator tiles were studied. The light from each scintillator was collected by a Silicon Photomultiplier (SiPM) directly viewing the produced scintillation light (SiPM-on-tile technique). The varied parameters included tile transverse size, tile thickness, tile wrapping material, scintillator composition, and SiPM model. Furthermore, these studies were performed using 120 GeV protons at the Fermilab Test Beam Facility. External tracking allowed the position of each proton penetrating a tile to be measured. The results were compared to a GEANT4 simulation of each configuration of scinitillator, wrapping, and SiPM.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Simulations of the nEDM@SNS light collection system efficiency

Here, a system for collecting the scintillation light produced by the capture of ultra-cold neutrons (UCN) on polarized 3 He is discussed and results from simulations of its performance are presented. This system will be implemented in nEDM@SNS, the experiment searching for the neutron electric dipole moment (nEDM) at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Simulation results show that the light collection system detects on average 17 photoelectrons per UCN- 3 He capture event (sufficient to generate a robust signal), reconstructs the event location in the beam direction to approximately 3 cm accuracy, detects capture events with a high and spatially uniform efficiency (0.95 with 1% variation), and rejects greater than 50% of beta decay background events.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Wideband precision stabilization of the -18.6kV retarding voltage for the KATRIN spectrometer

The Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino Experiment (KATRIN) measures the effective electron anti-neutrino mass with an unprecedented design sensitivity of 0.2 eV (90 % C.L.). In this experiment, the energy spectrum of beta electrons near the tritium decay endpoint is analyzed with a highly accurate spectrometer. To reach the KATRIN sensitivity target, the retarding voltage of this spectrometer must be stable to the ppm (1 × 10 -6 ) level and well known on various time scales (μs up to months), for values around -18.6 kV. A custom-designed high-voltage regulation system mitigates the impact of interference sources in the absence of a closed electric shield around the large spectrometer vessel. In this article, we describe the regulation system and its integration into the KATRIN setup. Independent monitoring methods demonstrate a stability within 2 ppm, exceeding KATRIN's specifications.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Construction and testing of sMDT tubes at the University of Michigan for the ATLAS Muon Spectrometer upgrade

This paper reports on the design and construction of infrastructure and test stations for small-diameter monitored drift tube (sMDT) assembly and testing at the University of Michigan (UM) to prepare for the ATLAS Muon Spectrometer upgrade for the high-luminosity program of the Large Hadron Collider. Procedures of the tube assembly and quality assurance and control (QA/QC) tests are described in detail. More than 99% of the tubes meet the tube QA/QC specifications based on 2100 tubes built at UM. The UM test stations are also used for QA/QC testing on the tubes constructed at Michigan State University. Furthermore, these tubes are being used to construct the sMDT chambers which will replace the current MDT chambers of the barrel inner station of the Muon Spectrometer.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2023

A sub-picosecond digital clock monitoring system

We describe a low-cost system designed to monitor wander in digital clocks with a precision of ≤ 1 ps. With this system we have shown that it is possible to track phase variations at the sub-picosecond level by adding noise to a reference clock. As in many cases where a clock is part of a complex distribution network small changes in temperature and other effects can lead to small changes in the clock's phase. As a further demonstration of the system, we have used it to measure the phase changes induced in optical signals in fibers.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2023

D-Egg: a dual PMT optical module for IceCube

The D-Egg, an acronym for "Dual optical sensors in an Ellipsoid Glass for Gen2," is one of the optical modules designed for future extensions of the IceCube experiment at the South Pole. The D-Egg has an elongated-sphere shape to maximize the photon-sensitive effective area while maintaining a narrow diameter to reduce the cost and the time needed for drilling of the deployment holes in the glacial ice for the optical modules at depths up to 2700 m. The D-Egg design is utilized for the IceCube Upgrade, the next stage of the IceCube project also known as IceCube-Gen2 Phase 1, where nearly half of the optical sensors to be deployed are D-Eggs. With two 8-inch high-quantum efficiency photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) per module, D-Eggs offer an increased effective area while retaining the successful design of the IceCube digital optical module (DOM). The convolution of the wavelength-dependent effective area and the Cherenkov emission spectrum provides an effective photodetection sensitivity that is 2.8 times larger than that of IceCube DOMs. The signal of each of the two PMTs is digitized using ultra-low-power 14-bit analog-to-digital converters with a sampling frequency of 240 MSPS, enabling a flexible event triggering, as well as seamless and lossless event recording of single-photon signals to multi-photons exceeding 200 photoelectrons within 10 ns. Mass production of D-Eggs has been completed, with 277 out of the 310 D-Eggs produced to be used in the IceCube Upgrade. In this paper, we report the design of the D-Eggs, as well as the sensitivity and the single to multi-photon detection performance of mass-produced D-Eggs measured in a laboratory using the built-in data acquisition system in each D-Egg optical sensor module.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2023

Studies of time resolution, light yield, and crosstalk using SiPM-on-tile calorimetry for the future Electron-Ion Collider

We recently proposed a high-granularity calorimeter insert for the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) that is based on plastic scintillator tiles readout with silicon photomultipliers. In this work, we concretize its design by characterizing its building blocks with measurements of light yield, optical crosstalk, and timing resolutions using cosmic-rays, an LED, and a beta source. We also compared two approaches for the optical isolation of cells: "megatiles" with grooved boundaries between cells, and a 3D-printed plastic frame hosting individual cells. Further, we found that the latter suppresses optical crosstalk to negligible levels while providing an easier assembly method. Overall, these performance studies can help inform calorimeter design and realistic simulations of 5D showers (time, energy, position) for the EIC and other experiments.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2023

Thin film charged particle detectors

Silicon tracking detectors have grown to cover larger surface areas up to hundreds of square meters, and are even taking over other sub-detectors, such as calorimeters. However, further improvements in tracking detector performance are more likely to arise from the ability to make a low mass detector comprised of a high ratio of active sensor to inactive materials, where dead materials include electrical services, cooling, mechanical supports, etc. In addition, the cost and time to build these detectors is currently large. Therefore, advancements in the fundamental technology of tracking detectors may need to look at a more transformative approach that enables extremely large area coverage with minimal dead material and is easier and faster to build. The advancement of thin film fabrication techniques has the potential to revolutionize the next-to-next generation of particle detector experiments. Some thin film deposition techniques have already been developed and widely used in the industry to make LED screens for TVs and monitors. If large area thin film detectors on the order of several square meters can be fabricated with similar performance as current silicon technologies, they could be used in future particle physics experiments. This paper aims to review the key fundamental performance criteria of existing silicon detectors and past research to use thin films and other semi-conductor materials as particle detectors in order to explore the important considerations and challenges to pursue thin film detectors.

Solid state detectors↗
DOE OSTI2024

Improved modeling of in-ice particle showers for IceCube event reconstruction

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory relies on an array of photomultiplier tubes to detect Cherenkov light produced by charged particles in the South Pole ice. IceCube data analyses depend on an in-depth characterization of the glacial ice, and on novel approaches in event reconstruction that utilize fast approximations of photoelectron yields. Here, a more accurate model is derived for event reconstruction that better captures our current knowledge of ice optical properties. When evaluated on a Monte Carlo simulation set, the median angular resolution for in-ice particle showers improves by over a factor of three compared to a reconstruction based on a simplified model of the ice. The most substantial improvement is obtained when including effects of birefringence due to the polycrystalline structure of the ice. When evaluated on data classified as particle showers in the high-energy starting events sample, a significantly improved description of the events is observed.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Abatement of ionizing radiation for superconducting quantum devices

Ionizing radiation has been shown to reduce the performance of superconducting quantum circuits. In this report, we evaluate the expected contributions of different sources of ambient radioactivity for typical superconducting qubit experiment platforms. Our assessment of radioactivity inside a typical cryostat highlights the importance of selecting appropriate materials for the experiment components nearest to qubit devices, such as packaging and electrical interconnects. We present a shallow underground facility (30-meter water equivalent) to reduce the flux of cosmic rays and a lead shielded cryostat to abate the naturally occurring radiogenic gamma-ray flux in the laboratory environment. We predict that superconducting qubit devices operated in this facility could experience a reduced rate of correlated multi-qubit errors by a factor of approximately 20 relative to the rate in a typical above-ground, unshielded facility. Finally, we outline overall design improvements that would be required to further reduce the residual ionizing radiation rate, down to the limit of current generation direct detection dark matter experiments.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2025

Fiber-coupled digital photo sensors for large Time Projection Chambers

Here, this paper presents a novel approach to addressing challenges in neutrino event reconstruction within large Time Projection Chambers (TPCs). By integrating fiber-coupled digital silicon photomultipliers, we propose a design that enhances light detection and improves both energy resolution and event reconstruction. Advancements in power and signal over fiber technologies are leveraged to deploy digital sensors within the TPC bulk volume, enabling precise timing and robust particle identification.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2025

Measurement of the mean excitation energy of liquid argon

The mean excitation energy (I-value) of liquid argon is a critical input for energy estimation in neutrino oscillation experiments. It is measured to be 199 +4 -5 eV using the range of 402.2 MeV protons from the Fermilab Linac. This compares to the author's recent evaluation of (197 ± 7) eV based on a combination of an oscillator strength distribution analysis, gaseous argon range measurements, sparse stopping power data on solid argon, and an extrapolation of data on the effect of phase from other substances. Using all sources of information, we recommend a value of (198 ± 4) eV for liquid argon, which is significantly higher than 188 eV, from ICRU-37's gaseous argon evaluation, commonly used in Monte Carlo codes such as Geant4.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗