The FragmentatiOn Of Target Experiment (FOOT) and its DAQ system

TL;DR

The FOOT experiment is designed to measure nuclear fragmentation cross-sections relevant to hadrontherapy and space radioprotection, with a flexible, high-precision DAQ system for real-time data processing across various labs.

Contribution

Development of a portable, adaptable experimental setup and DAQ system for precise nuclear fragmentation measurements in diverse environments.

Findings

High accuracy data acquisition in real-time

Flexible setup suitable for multiple laboratories

Effective online quality monitoring

Abstract

The FragmentatiOn Of Target (FOOT) experiment aims to provide precise nuclear cross-section measurements for two different fields: hadrontherapy and radio-protection in space. The main reason is the important role the nuclear fragmentation process plays in both fields, where the health risks caused by radiation are very similar and mainly attributable to the fragmentation process. The FOOT experiment has been developed in such a way that the experimental setup is easily movable and fits the space limitations of the experimental and treatment rooms available in hadrontherapy treatment centers, where most of the data takings are carried out. The Trigger and Data Acquisition system needs to follow the same criteria and it should work in different laboratories and in different conditions. It has been designed to acquire the largest sample size with high accuracy in a controlled and online-monitored environment. The data collected are processed in real-time for quality assessment and are available to the DAQ crew and detector experts during data taking.