Barrel time-of-flight detector for the PANDA experiment at FAIR

TL;DR

The paper presents the development and testing of a scintillator tile-based time-of-flight detector for the PANDA experiment, achieving a time resolution better than 100 ps through extensive optimization and prototype testing.

Contribution

It introduces a novel SciTil Hodoscope design with SiPM readout, demonstrating feasibility with prototype tests and achieving high time resolution for particle detection.

Findings

Achieved ~80 ps time resolution with KETEK and Hamamatsu SiPMs.

Achieved ~30 ps time resolution with Philips Digital Photon Counter.

Validated design through extensive optimization and prototype testing.

Abstract

The barrel time-of-flight detector for the PANDA experiment at FAIR is foreseen as a Scintillator Tile (SciTil) Hodoscope based on several thousand small plastic scintillator tiles read-out with directly attached Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs). The main tasks of the system are an accurate determination of the time origin of particle tracks to avoid event mixing at high collission rates, relative time-of-flight measurements as well as particle identification in the low momentum regime. The main requirements are the use of a minimum material amount and a time resolution of $\sigma < 100\,\mathrm{ps}$. We have performed extensive optimization studies and prototype tests to prove the feasibility of the SciTil design and finalize the R&D phase. In a 2.7 GeV/c proton beam at Forschungszentrum J\"ulich a time resolution of about 80 ps has been achieved using SiPMs from KETEK and Hamamatsu with an active area of $3\times3\,\mathrm{mm^2}$. Employing the Digital Photon Counter from Philips a time resolution of about 30 ps has been reached.