Efficiency and uniformity measurements of a light concentrator in combination with a SiPM array

TL;DR

This paper evaluates the efficiency and uniformity of a pyramid-shaped light concentrator combined with a SiPM array for a Cherenkov detector, demonstrating its suitability for high-resolution particle detection.

Contribution

It introduces a novel light concentrator design with experimental efficiency and uniformity measurements, validated against simulations for a SiPM-based Cherenkov detector.

Findings

High efficiency of the light concentrator demonstrated

Uniformity across the SiPM array confirmed

Good agreement between measurements and simulations

Abstract

A position sensitive Cherenkov detector was built, consisting of 64 SiPMs with an active area of 3x3 mm^2 and a pixel size of 100x100 \mu m^2. The sensitive area is increased by a light concentrator which consists of 64 pyramid-shaped funnels. These funnels have an entrance area of 7x7 mm^2 and an exit area of 3x3 mm^2, guaranteeing a sufficient position resolution e.g. for the barrel DIRC detector of the PANDA experiment at FAIR. The efficiency and uniformity of the light concentrator in combination with the SiPM array was tested by scanning the array in two dimensions, using a pulsed light beam. Results of these tests and comparison with simulations are given here.