A waveform and time digitization mainboard prototype for the hybrid digital optical module of TRIDENT neutrino experiment

TL;DR

This paper introduces a prototype digitization mainboard for the TRIDENT neutrino experiment's hybrid optical modules, enabling high-speed waveform capture and precise timing for underwater neutrino detection.

Contribution

It presents a custom digitization mainboard with multi-channel waveform digitization and high-precision timing, tailored for the TRIDENT experiment's hybrid optical modules.

Findings

Achieved 125 MS/s waveform digitization for 32 channels.

Demonstrated sub-nanosecond timing resolution.

Maintained linear response up to 240 photoelectrons.

Abstract

The TRIDENT (Tropical Deep-sea Neutrino Telescope) experiment is a next-generation underwater neutrino observatory planned for deployment in the West Pacific Ocean, designed to detect astrophysical neutrinos through Cherenkov radiation. The full-scale detector will consist of approximately 1000 vertical strings, each equipped with 20 hybrid digital optical modules (hDOMs) containing both photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) and silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) for comprehensive light detection. This paper presents a custom-designed digitization mainboard prototype for the hDOM, featuring simultaneous 32-channel PMT waveform digitization at 125 MS/s using commercial analog-to-digital converters and 56-channel high-precision time measurement through field-programmable gate array -implemented time-to-digital converters. The system demonstrates excellent performance in single photoelectron (PE) detection with clear pedestal separation, maintains linear response up to 240 PEs, and achieves sub-nanosecond timing resolution for PMT or SiPM pulse edges.