The PANDA DIRC Detectors at FAIR

TL;DR

The paper presents the design, simulation, and testing of the PANDA DIRC detectors at FAIR, which are advanced Cherenkov detectors for hadron identification in a high-energy physics experiment.

Contribution

It introduces novel DIRC detector designs with improvements like fast photon timing and compact imaging, validated through simulations and prototype tests.

Findings

Validated expected PID performance through Geant4 simulations.

Demonstrated successful prototype testing at beam facilities.

Implemented key improvements over previous DIRC designs.

Abstract

The PANDA detector at the international accelerator Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research in Europe (FAIR) addresses fundamental questions of hadron physics. An excellent hadronic particle identification (PID) will be accomplished by two DIRC (Detection of Internally Reflected Cherenkov light) counters in the target spectrometer. The design for the barrel region covering polar angles between 22 deg. to 140 deg. is based on the successful BABAR DIRC with several key improvements, such as fast photon timing and a compact imaging region. The novel Endcap Disc DIRC will cover the smaller forward angles between 5 deg. (10 deg.) to 22 deg. in the vertical (horizontal) direction. Both DIRC counters will use lifetime-enhanced microchannel plate PMTs for photon detection in combination with fast readout electronics. Geant4 simulations and tests with several prototypes at various beam facilities have been used to evaluate the designs and validate the expected PID performance of both PANDA DIRC counters.