Low Gain Avalanche Detectors for the HADES reaction time (T$_0$) detector upgrade

TL;DR

This paper presents the development and testing of Low Gain Avalanche Detectors (LGADs) for improving the timing resolution of the HADES detector, achieving sub-50 ps precision in proton beam experiments.

Contribution

The study introduces LGAD-based prototypes for the HADES T0 detector and demonstrates their effective timing performance under experimental conditions.

Findings

LGAD prototypes achieved below 50 ps timing resolution.

Effective operation of LGADs at room temperature.

Successful application in HADES experiment conditions.

Abstract

Low Gain Avalanche Detector (LGAD) technology has been used to design and construct prototypes of time-zero detector for experiments utilizing proton and pion beams with High Acceptance Di-Electron Spectrometer (HADES) at GSI Darmstadt, Germany. LGAD properties have been studied with proton beams at the COoler SYnchrotron (COSY) facility in J\"ulich, Germany. We have demonstrated that systems based on a prototype LGAD operated at room temperature and equipped with leading-edge discriminators reach a time precision below 50 ps. The application in the HADES, experimental conditions, as well as the test results obtained with proton beams are presented.