Timing performances of a Time-of-Flight detection system for the FRACAS large acceptance mass spectrometer

TL;DR

This paper evaluates the timing performance of a Time-of-Flight system in a mass spectrometer used for fragment identification in hadrontherapy, achieving sub-300 ps resolution to improve fragment detection accuracy.

Contribution

It reports the design and testing of a TOF system with high timing resolution for fragment identification in a large acceptance mass spectrometer.

Findings

Achieved coincidence resolving time below 300 ps.

Demonstrated capability to identify all fragments from $^{12}$C interactions.

Validated system performance with alpha source and $^{12}$C beam experiments.

Abstract

In this work, we report on the timing performances of the Time-Of-Flight (TOF) apparatus of the FRACAS large acceptance mass spectrometer designed to measure the fragmentation cross sections of a $^{12}$C beam in hadrontherapy. The TOF system is composed of a Parallel Plate Avalanche Counter and scintillating detectors to create so-called $\Delta$E---TOF maps used in the fragment charge identification process. From tests with an alpha source and a $^{12}$C beam experiment, we measured a coincidence resolving time for the apparatus below 300 ps. Those results should lead in the final design to the identification of all the fragments produced by the interaction of $^{12}$C ions with thin targets for energies up to 400 MeV/nucleon.