- UCL Home
- Instituts de recherche
- Institut de recherche en mathématique et physique
- Centre de Cosmologie, Physique des Particules et Phénoménologie
- Orientations de Recherche
- Recherche et développement de nouveaux détecteurs (en)
Recherche et développement de nouveaux détecteurs (en)
CP3 interest in the field of development of new detectors is twofold: On one side to fulfil the commitments that our group have with present experiments, including major foreseen upgrades. On the other side in the development of new measurement techniques that will be used in future experiments.
Members of CP3 are involved in the development of four fields/technologies:
- A) Semiconductor detectors, mainly for tracking devices. Activities in this area covers mainly the system integration issues in CMS upgrade forward tracker and NA62 GTK spectrometer. Using UCL cyclotrons, radiation effects to both semiconductor sensors and their associated electronics can be studied.
- B) Development of portable RPCs for muography applications. In this context, portability means light-weight, low electrical power consumption and autonomous operation. These detectors can be used to image the interior of large objects via the absorption or diffusion of cosmic rays. Examples of such large structures are geological structures, for example active volcanoes, buildings. They can be used also to inspect sealed objects as nuclear waste containers or cultural heritage objects.
- C)Vibration isolation systems for gravitational wave (GWs) detectors. Vibration isolation of all components of the gravitational wave detectors is necessary because the magnitude of the Earth’s ever-present motion is at least a factor 10 billion higher than the effects of GWs on the main mirrors. CP3 members are contributing to a) the design and development of the suspension system for the third generation of GW detectors Cosmic Explorer (CE) and Einstein Telescope, b) the development of ultra-sensitive, custom built inertial sensors that will operate at cryogenic temperatures and c) the control strategies, based on machine learning, that will use sensor data to correct the mirror positions. These developments are mostly being performed in the context of the interreg “E-TEST Einstein Telescope EMR Site & Technology” project in collaboration with Belgian and international partners.
- D) Optics for GW detectors. Interferometric GW detectors are based on a number of optical cavities that need to be kept resonant with the input laser beams. Several techniques can be used to monitor and control the parameters of the beams and cavities. CP3 members are contributing to the development of some of these techniques in the context of the running GW detector Virgo.
Members
Academic staff
Research scientists
Physicists, engineers and computer scientists
Postdocs
PhD students
Technical staff
Visitors
Projects
Click the title to show project description.-
Development of simulation tools at device level for semiconductor sensors. We are interested both in the simulation of static characteristics as for instance coupling capacitances, electric fields, etc, but also dynamic characteristics as signal developed in different sensors when particles are passing through.
Tools used to made this simulations are based in comercial software as TCAD or Silvaco and programs developed by ourselves. This work profits from the close collaboration with DICE (FSA/UCL). -
On Feb 1, 2020 the R&D EU Interreg project E-TEST officially started. It involves 11 institutes from Belgium, Germany and Netherlands and will carry on crucial detector developments for the Einstein Telescope (ET) - a 3rd generation antenna of gravitational waves, related mostly to cryogenic operations of large mass mirrors and their suspensions, ultra-precise metrology and sensing, as well as to advanced geological studies in the region (the ET is a deep-underground detector). The CP3 group is a partner in this project and is working on work package 1 : "Ultra-cold vibration control" and in particular on a cryogenic superconducting inertial sensor.
Gravitational wave signals below a frequency of about 10 Hz are obscured by thermal noise in current detectors. Because temperature is the vibration of atoms in some respect, making the distance measurement between the mirror surfaces more challenging, the mirrors of future detectors will need to be cooled down to temperatures around 10 K. We need to control the motion of some of the cold objects, for which we develop inertial sensors that can survive this harsh environment. The interferometric readout of the inertial sensor also serves as to monitor a ringdown or the E-TEST mirror. After it is excited by a tiny hammer strike, the interferometer follows the ringdown and can determine the quality factor. Additionally, we are investigating an alternative suspension technique, where instead of long fibres under tension, we use short flexures under compression in combination with long, fat rods so we obtain good thermal conductivity and low stiffness suspension.
CP3 members collaborate mostly with KU Leuven (we are collaborating to develop cryogenic readout electronics for the sensor) and ULiège (we align our sensor efforts), RWTH Aachen (they are preparing a cryostat where we will test the inertial sensor). -
The ETpathfinder is an R&D infrastructure for testing and prototyping innovative concepts and enabling technologies for the Einstein Telescope, the European concept for a new class of future gravitational wave observatories. ETpathfinder is funded by the interreg program of the EU. The ETpathfinder project broadly consists of six vacuum towers. Four towers are cryogenic and hold suspensions for the mirrors (or test masses) of the experiment. Two towers are operated at room temperature. They hold suspensions for optical tables which hold smaller optics that prepare the beams to be shot into both arms (mode cleaning, frequency stabilisation etc.) and hold the beamsplitters and detection optics.
Many of these optics are suspended individually with small bench top suspensions so they can be steered and additionally seismically isolated. This project concerns the design, prototyping and partial fabrication of >10 suspensions of order 75cm high. -
GasToF (Gas Time-of-Flight) detector is a Cherenkov detector developed for very precise (with <10 ps resolution) flight time measurements of very forward protons at the LHC. Such an excellent time resolution allows, using z-by-timing technique, for precise measurements of the event vertex z-coordinate and the background reduction. Such a detector is essential for selecting exclusive and semi-exclusive processes at high luminosity, and can also be applied for the timing and particle ID at future experiments.
Investigate new techniques for ToF-PET. -
The general goal of this project is to develop muon-based radiography or tomography (“muography”), an innovative multidisciplinary approach to study large-scale natural or man-made structures, establishing a strong synergy between particle physics and other disciplines, such as geology and archaeology.
Muography is an imaging technique that relies on the measurement of the absorption of muons produced by the interactions of cosmic rays with the atmosphere.
Applications span from geophysics (the study of the interior of mountains and the remote quasi-online monitoring of active volcanoes) to archaeology and mining.
We are using the local facilities at CP3 for the development of high-resolution portable detectors based on Resistive Plate Chambers.
We also participate to the MURAVES collaboration through simulations (including the coordination of the Monte Carlo group), data-analysis developments (an example of the latter is the implementation and in-situ calibration of time-of-flight capabilities), and development of a new database.
We are part of the H2020-RIA project SilentBorder, which aims at developing new muon scanners at border controls. Our role in this project is to develop a parametric simulation and a ML-based detector optimization procedure.
We are also part of the H2020-MSCA-RISE network INTENSE where we coordinate the Muography work package, which brings together particle physicists, geophysicists, archaeologists, civil engineers and private companies for the development and exploitation of this imaging method. -
LARA: LAser for Radiation Analysis
LARA is a general purpose laser testbench devoted to study the radiation susceptibility of semiconductor devices.
The systems consists in a high precission step motors (~0.1 um), a 1060 nm pulsed laser (PiLAS) with associated optics to obtain beam spots f ~5-6 um, and a set of photodetectors to measure both integrated and pulse-by-pulse optical power.
LARA will have two main applications:
1. Test of semiconductor sensors (pixel, microstrips, etc).
2. Study of single event effects (SEE) in semiconductor components.
A set of standard measurement equipment will be available to perform measurements for both type of applications. -
Development of the "phase II" upgrade for the CMS silicon strip stracker.
More precisely, we are involved in the development of the uTCA-based DAQ system and in the test/validation of the first prototype modules. We take active part to the various test-beam campaigns (CERN, DESY, ...)
This activity will potentially make use of the cyclotron of UCL, the probe stations and the SYCOC setup (SYstem de mesure de COllection de Charge) to test the response to laser light, radioactive sources and beams.
The final goal is to take a leading role in the construction of part of the CMS Phase-II tracker. -
The TRAPPISTe series of sensors tries to use SOI technology to build a monolithic pixel sensor. SOI wafers consist of a thin top silicon active layer, a middle insulating buried oxide layer and a thick handle wafer. Due to the insulating layer, SOI technology allows for more compact layout and lower parasitics compared to traditional bulk CMOS processes.
The TRAPPISTe-1 sensor was designed and fabricated at UCL’s WINFAB facility at the Ecole Polytechnique de Louvain. WINFAB provides a 2m Fully Depleted SOI process with the following characteristics:
• 100nm top active layer, 400nm buried oxide layer, 450um handle wafer
• substrate: 15-25 Ωcm, p-type
• four types of transistors with different threshold voltages: low Vt, standard Vt, high Vt, graded.
The first fabrication of the TRAPPISTe-1 chip was delivered in January 2010. Unfortunately, the process was complicated by a contamination resulting in a voltage shift of all the transistors. A second run of the TRAPPISTe-1 chip is currently being produced.
The TRAPPISTe-2 project has just begun with the SOIPIX collaboration and will use OKI Semiconductor 0.2um technology to build a pixel sensor and test structures. The OKI technology provides the following:
• active layer thickness 50nm, BOX thickness 200nm, handle wafer thickness 250-350um
• substrate resistivity of 700 Ωcm, n-type
• 4 metal layers
• buried p-well (BPW) to suppress back gate effect
TRAPPISTe-2 chips have been delivered by OKI in the beginning of 2011. To test the TRAPPISTe chip, a readout board and a laser test station are being developed. The readout board consists of a daughter board and main board. The daughter board is a small board used for mounting and bonding the TRAPPISTe chip. Several daughter boards have been designed to accommodate the TRAPPISTe-1 and TRAPPISTe-2 chips. The daughter boards plug into the main board which contains DACs to set the appropriate bias voltages and an ADC controlled by an FPGA to read the detector output. A laser test station is being commissioned to test the charge collection of the device.
The TRAPPISTe project has been presented at the following conferences:
- iWoRiD 2009
- IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium 2009
- Vienna Conference on Instrumentation 2010
TRAPPISTe group has also joined the SOIPIX collaboration and was presented at the SOIPIX Collaboration Meeting 2010. SOIPIX is an international research collaboration developing detector applications in SOI technology. More information on the TRAPPISTe project can be found at: https://server06.fynu.ucl.ac.be/projects/cp3admin/wiki/UsersPage/Physics/Hardware/Trappiste. -
A gravitational wave detector consists of many coupled optical cavities, the shortest being centimeter scale with sub-millimeter beams and the longest being several kilometers long with several centimeter size beams. When an input beam’s shape is not matched to the cavity eigenmode (the preferred beam shape of the cavity), we speak of mode mismatch (MM). MM is a source of optical loss from the fundamental mode, shown in the top figure, into cylindrical higher order modes (HOMs) of which an example is shown in the bottom figure. Minimising optical losses in a gravitational wave detector is important if techniques such as squeezed light injection are to be more fruitful. At the moment, no gravitational wave detector has an automated way to control MM. We investigate error signal generation by detection of the cylindrical HOMs. These signals then serve as input for control of MM a coupled cavity set-up.
Recent Publications
Click the title to show details.-
Vishal Kumar, Samip Basnet, Eduardo Cortina Gil, R.M.I.D. Gamage, Andrea Giammanco, Marwa Moussawi, Amrutha Samalan, Michael Tytgat, Raveendrababu Karnam, November 11, 2024
Refereed paper. [Full text] -
Anzori Georgadze, Andrea Giammanco, Vitaly Kudryavtsev, Maxime Lagrange, Cenk Turkoglu, March 11, 2024
Refereed paper. Contribution to proceedings. [Full text] -
H. K. M. Tanaka, C. Bozza, A. Bross, E. Cantoni, O. Catalano, G. Cerretto, A. Giammanco, J. Gluyas, I. Gnesi, M. Holma, T. Kin, I. Lázaro Roche, G. Leone, Z. Liu, D. Lo Presti, J. Marteau, J. Matsushima, L. Oláh, N. Polukhina, S. S. V. S. Ramakrishna, M. Sellone, A. Hideki Shinohara, S. Steigerwald, K. Sumiya, L. Thompson, V. Tioukov, Y. Yokota & D. Varga, November 23, 2023
Refereed paper. [Full text] -
Max Aehle, Lorenzo Arsini, R. Belén Barreiro, Anastasios Belias, Florian Bury, Susana Cebrian, Alexander Demin, Jennet Dickinson, Julien Donini, Tommaso Dorigo, Michele Doro, Nicolas R. Gauger, Andrea Giammanco, Lindsey Gray, Borja S. González, Verena Kain, Jan Kieseler, Lisa Kusch, Marcus Liwicki, Gernot Maier, Federico Nardi, Fedor Ratnikov, Ryan Roussel, Roberto Ruiz de Austri, Fredrik Sandin, Michael Schenk, Bruno Scarpa, Pedro Silva, Giles C. Strong, Pietro Vischia, October 11, 2023
Refereed paper. [Abstract] [PDF] -
Moussawi, Marwa and Giammanco, Andrea and Kumar, Vishal and Lagrange, Maxime, September 15, 2023
Contribution to proceedings. [Abstract] [PDF] [Local file] [Full text] -
Sarah Barnes, Anzori Georgadze, Andrea Giammanco, Madis Kiisk, Vitaly A. Kudryavtsev, Maxime Lagrange and Olin Lyod Pinto, March 20, 2023
Refereed paper. [Full text] -
International Atomic Energy Agency, October 14, 2022
Public experimental note. [Full text] -
Dorigo, Tommaso and others, March 29, 2022
Refereed paper. [Abstract] [PDF] [Local file] [Journal] [Dial]
-
M. Moussawi, S. Basnet, E. Cortina Gil, P. Demin, R. M. I. D. Gamage, A. Giammanco, R. Karnam, A. Samalan and M. Tytgat, September 28, 2021
Contribution to proceedings. [Full text] -
MODE collaboration, March 31, 2021
[Full text] -
CMS collaboration, July 2, 2020
Public experimental note. [Full text] -
CMS collaboration, December 13, 2017
Refereed paper. [Full text] -
CMS collaboration, October 29, 2015
Public experimental note. [Full text] -
Cortina Gil, Eduardo and Soung-Yee, Lawrence, August 24, 2015
Refereed paper. Contribution to proceedings. [Full text] -
Nicolas Schul for the CMS Collaboration, July 1, 2010
Contribution to proceedings. [Full text] -
Eduardo Cortina Gil, February 17, 2009
Contribution to proceedings. [Full text] -
T. Bergauer, et al., December 22, 2008
Public experimental note. [Full text]