Novel photon timing techniques applied to the LHCb RICH upgrade programme

TL;DR

This paper presents new photon timing techniques for the LHCb RICH detector upgrade, enhancing background suppression and particle identification by adding precise time measurements to existing spatial data.

Contribution

It introduces novel fast-timing methods and electronics developments that enable the use of photon time information in RICH detectors for the first time.

Findings

Achieved sub-10 ps time resolution in photon detection

Demonstrated improved background suppression capabilities

Enhanced particle identification performance

Abstract

The Ring-Imaging Cherenkov (RICH) detectors at LHCb have an intrinsic time resolution of better than 10 ps owing to the prompt Cherenkov radiation and focusing mirrors optics. While only spatial information has been used in the experiment to date, the addition of photon time information is one of the cornerstones of the future RICH upgrade programme. The novel timing techniques provide a powerful tool for background suppression and particle ID performance improvements. Here, developments to implement fast-timing in the front-end electronics are presented.