A Compact Readout Electronics Based on Current Amplifier for Micromegas Detector in Muon Imaging

TL;DR

This paper presents a compact, multi-channel front-end electronics system based on a current amplifier chip for Micromegas detectors, enabling effective muon imaging with high spatial resolution and simplified readout.

Contribution

The work introduces a novel compact electronics design using the ADAS1128 chip for Micromegas detectors, improving multi-channel charge measurement for muon imaging applications.

Findings

The electronics achieved good energy resolution with radioactive sources.

The muon imaging system successfully reconstructed object boundaries with 2 cm resolution.

The system demonstrated effective cosmic ray muon detection and imaging capabilities.

Abstract

Muon imaging technology is an innovative imaging technique that can be applied in volcano imaging, heavy nuclear material detection, and archaeological research. The Micromegas detector is a promising choice for muon imaging due to its high spatial resolution and large area. However, the large number of readout channels poses a challenge for electronics. In this paper, a compact front-end electronics (FEE) for reading Micromegas detectors is presented. The electronics use the commercial current-to-digital readout chip, ADAS1128, which integrates 128 current amplifiers for multi-channel charge measurement. After verifying the basic performance of the electronics, the energy resolution was obtained with a radioactive source. Furthermore, a muon imaging system prototype was set up and its spatial resolution was evaluated in a test with cosmic ray muons. The system prototype can reconstruct the boundaries of sufficiently massive objects with a size of 2 cm in a scattering imaging test.