First Demonstration of a Combined Light and Charge Pixel Readout on the Anode Plane of a LArTPC

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a novel liquid-argon detector with combined light and charge readout, enhancing sensitivity for neutrino detection at the MeV scale.

Contribution

First demonstration of a combined light and charge pixel readout on the anode plane of a liquid-argon TPC, showcasing its design and performance.

Findings

Successful integration of pixel-based charge readout and silicon photomultipliers.

Effective matching of light and charge signals for improved data reconstruction.

Prototype demonstrates promising performance for next-generation neutrino detectors.

Abstract

The novel SoLAr concept aims to extend sensitivities of liquid-argon neutrino detectors down to the MeV scale for next-generation detectors. SoLAr plans to accomplish this with a liquid-argon time projection chamber that employs an anode plane with dual charge and light readout, which enables precision matching of light and charge signals for data acquisition and reconstruction purposes. We present the results of a first demonstration of the SoLAr detector concept with a small-scale prototype detector integrating a pixel-based charge readout and silicon photomultipliers on a shared printed circuit board. We discuss the design of the prototype, and its operation and performance, highlighting the capability of such a detector design.