Data Acquisition and Readout System for the LUX Dark Matter Experiment

TL;DR

The paper details the design and implementation of a custom data acquisition system for the LUX dark matter detector, enabling high-rate, low-threshold data collection with minimal deadtime.

Contribution

It introduces novel acquisition techniques and a tailored DAQ system that effectively handle high event rates and dynamic range in dark matter detection.

Findings

Maximum event rate exceeds 1.5 kHz with virtually no deadtime

Real-time baseline suppression improves data quality

Custom firmware enhances digitizer performance

Abstract

LUX is a two-phase (liquid/gas) xenon time projection chamber designed to detect nuclear recoils from interactions with dark matter particles. Signals from the LUX detector are processed by custom-built analog electronics which provide properly shaped signals for the trigger and data acquisition (DAQ) systems. The DAQ is comprised of commercial digitizers with firmware customized for the LUX experiment. Data acquisition systems in rare-event searches must accommodate high rate and large dynamic range during precision calibrations involving radioactive sources, while also delivering low threshold for maximum sensitivity. The LUX DAQ meets these challenges using real-time baseline sup- pression that allows for a maximum event acquisition rate in excess of 1.5 kHz with virtually no deadtime. This paper describes the LUX DAQ and the novel acquisition techniques employed in the LUX experiment.