arXiv subjects

D. Doering

Publications and source records attributed to D. Doering.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

On-chip Bragg peak extraction from MHz frame rate X-ray detectors using a cellular automaton architecture

High-frame rate pixel detectors can produce data volumes that exceed available off-chip bandwidth, yet in many applications only a sparse subset of each frame carries relevant information. Spatially localized events, including diffraction peaks in crystallography, particle hits in tracking detectors, fluorescence spots in biological imaging, and other applications, all require that clusters of above-threshold pixels be identified and extracted from an otherwise featureless background. Conventionally this is performed in software algorithms such as connected-component labeling on full frames, but at MHz frame rates the resulting throughput becomes prohibitive. We present a lightweight hardware architecture that performs peak localization and patch extraction directly in the sensor silicon, transmitting only small pixel patches rather than complete frames. FPGA-based testing on an AMD Alveo V80 validated the synthesizability and timing closure of the peak-finding module in real hardware. The design replaces global connected-component labeling with a cellular automaton that uses purely local, fixed-iteration neighborhood operations, eliminating the label storage and equivalence-resolution logic that make conventional approaches impractical on-chip. We validate the architecture on X-ray Bragg peak detection for far-field high-energy diffraction microscopy and show that every peak found by a software reference is recovered, with equivalent downstream reconstructions. The architecture sustains several-hundred-kHz frame rates in 130nm CMOS and exceeds 1MHz in 28nm.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2025

Characterization of CRYO ASIC for charge readout in the nEXO experiment

nEXO is a proposed next-generation experiment searching for the neutrinoless double beta decay of $^{136}$Xe using a tonne-scale liquid xenon (LXe) time projection chamber (TPC). To image the ionization signals from events in the liquid xenon, the detector will employ metallized fused-silica charge collection tiles instrumented with cryogenic application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), referred to as CRYO ASIC, which are designed to operate directly in LXe to minimize input capacitance and pick-up noise. Here we present the performance of the CRYO ASIC mounted on an auxiliary printed circuit board and evaluated both in a cryogenic environmental chamber and in a dedicated LXe test stand. We demonstrate that the ASICs achieve the desired performance at liquid xenon temperatures, showing a gain stability better than 0.2% over 24-hour operation and reliable in-situ calibration using an on-chip pulser. In the LXe test stand, we show that boiling caused by the chip heat dissipation can be mitigated by operating the system above ~0.1 MPa. The in-LXe noise measured agrees with simulation, which indicates it the $150~e^-$ design requirement can be satisfied. These results establish CRYO ASIC as a viable low-noise in-LXe charge readout solution for nEXO.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2022

100 Gb/s High Throughput Serial Protocol (HTSP) for Data Acquisition Systems with Interleaved Streaming

Demands on Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) data transport have been increasing over the years as frame sizes and refresh rates increase. As the bandwidths requirements increase the ability to implement data transport protocol layers using "soft" programmable logic becomes harder and start to require harden IP blocks implementation. To reduce the number of physical links and interconnects, it is common for data acquisition systems to require interleaving of streams on the same link (e.g. streaming data and streaming register access). This paper presents a way to leverage existing FPGA harden IP blocks to achieve a robust, low latency 100 Gb/s point-to-point link with minimal programmable logic overhead geared towards the needs of data acquisition systems with interleaved streaming requirements.

cs.AR↗

arXiv2019

Hammerhead, an ultrahigh resolution ePix camera for wavelength-dispersive spectrometers

Wavelength-dispersive spectrometers (WDS) are often used in synchrotron and FEL applications where high energy resolution (in the order of eV) is important. Increasing WDS energy resolution requires increasing spatial resolution of the detectors in the dispersion direction. The common approaches with strip detectors or small pixel detectors are not ideal. We present a novel approach, with a sensor using rectangular pixels with a high aspect ratio (between strips and pixels, further called "strixels"), and strixel redistribution to match the square pixel arrays of typical ASICs while avoiding the considerable effort of redesigning ASICs. This results in a sensor area of 17.4 mm x 77 mm, with a fine pitch of 25 $\mu$m in the horizontal direction resulting in 3072 columns and 176 rows. The sensors use ePix100 readout ASICs, leveraging their low noise (43 e$^-$, or 180 eV rms). We present results obtained with a Hammerhead ePix100 camera, showing that the small pitch (25 $\mu$m) in the dispersion direction maximizes performance for both high and low photon occupancies, resulting in optimal WDS energy resolution. The low noise level at high photon occupancy allows precise photon counting, while at low occupancy, both the energy and the subpixel position can be reconstructed for every photon, allowing an ultrahigh resolution (in the order of 1 $\mu$m) in the dispersion direction and rejection of scattered beam and harmonics. Using strixel sensors with redistribution and flip-chip bonding to standard ePix readout ASICs results in ultrahigh position resolution ($\sim$1 $\mu$m) and low noise in WDS applications, leveraging the advantages of hybrid pixel detectors (high production yield, good availability, relatively inexpensive) while minimizing development complexity through sharing the ASIC, hardware, software and DAQ development with existing versions of ePix cameras.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2019

Performance of ePix10K, a high dynamic range, gain auto-ranging pixel detector for FELs

ePix10K is a hybrid pixel detector developed at SLAC for demanding free-electron laser (FEL) applications, providing an ultrahigh dynamic range (245 eV to 88 MeV) through gain auto-ranging. It has three gain modes (high, medium and low) and two auto-ranging modes (high-to-low and medium-to-low). The first ePix10K cameras are built around modules consisting of a sensor flip-chip bonded to 4 ASICs, resulting in 352x384 pixels of 100 $\mu$m x 100 $\mu$m each. We present results from extensive testing of three ePix10K cameras with FEL beams at LCLS, resulting in a measured noise floor of 245 eV rms, or 67 e$^-$ equivalent noise charge (ENC), and a range of 11000 photons at 8 keV. We demonstrate the linearity of the response in various gain combinations: fixed high, fixed medium, fixed low, auto-ranging high to low, and auto-ranging medium-to-low, while maintaining a low noise (well within the counting statistics), a very low cross-talk, perfect saturation response at fluxes up to 900 times the maximum range, and acquisition rates of up to 480 Hz. Finally, we present examples of high dynamic range x-ray imaging spanning more than 4 orders of magnitude dynamic range (from a single photon to 11000 photons/pixel/pulse at 8 keV). Achieving this high performance with only one auto-ranging switch leads to relatively simple calibration and reconstruction procedures. The low noise levels allow usage with long integration times at non-FEL sources. ePix10K cameras leverage the advantages of hybrid pixel detectors with high production yield and good availability, minimize development complexity through sharing the hardware, software and DAQ development with all other versions of ePix cameras, while providing an upgrade path to 5 kHz, 25 kHz and 100 kHz in three steps over the next few years, matching the LCLS-II requirements.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2017

Radiation damage caused by cold neutrons in boron doped CMOS active pixel sensors

CMOS Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors (MAPS) are considered as an emerging technology in the field of charged particle tracking. They will be used in the vertex detectors of experiments like STAR, CBM and ALICE and are considered for the ILC and the tracker of ATLAS. In those applications, the sensors are exposed to sizeable radiation doses. While the tolerance of MAPS to ionizing radiation and fast hadrons is well known, the damage caused by low energy neutrons was not studied so far. Those slow neutrons may initiate nuclear fission of $^{10}$B dopants found in the B-doped silicon active medium of MAPS. This effect was expected to create an unknown amount of radiation damage beyond the predictions of the NIEL (Non Ionizing Energy Loss) model for pure silicon. We estimate the impact of this effect by calculating the additional NIEL created by this fission. Moreover, we show first measured data for CMOS sensors which were irradiated with cold neutrons. The empirical results contradict the prediction of the updated NIEL model both, qualitatively and quantitatively: The sensors irradiated with slow neutrons show an unexpected and strong acceptor removal, which is not observed in sensors irradiated with MeV neutrons.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2016

On drift fields in CMOS Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors with point-like collection diodes

- Paper withdrawn by the author - CMOS Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors for charged particle tracking are considered as technology for numerous experiments in heavy ion and particle physics. To match the requirements for those applications in terms of tolerance to non-ionizing radiation, it is being tried to deplete the sensitive volume of the, traditionally non-depleted, silicon sensors. We study the feasibility of this approach for the common case that the collection diodes of the pixel are small as compared to the pixel pitch. An analytic equation predicting the thickness of the depletion depth and the capacity of this point-like junction is introduced. We find that the predictions of this equations differs qualitatively from the usual results for flat PN junctions and that $dC/dU$-measurements are not suited to measure the depletion depth of diodes with point-like geometry. The predictions of the equation is compared with measurements on the depletion depth of CMOS sensors, which were carried out with a novel measurement protocol. It is found that the equation and the measurement results match with each other. By comparing our findings with TCAD simulations, we find that precise simulation models matches the empirical findings while simplified models overestimate the depletion depth dramatically. A potential explanation for this finding is introduced and the consequences for the design of CMOS sensors are discussed.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2016

Effect and suppression of parasitic surface damage in neutron irradiated CMOS Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors

CMOS Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors (MAPS) were chosen as sensor technology for the vertex detectors of STAR, CBM and the upgraded ALICE-ITS. They also constitute a valuable option for tracking devices at future e+e- colliders. Those applications require a substantial tolerance to both, ionizing and non-ionizing radiation. To allow for a focused optimization of the radiation tolerance, prototypes are tested by irradiating the devices either with purely ionizing radiation (e.g. soft X-rays) or the most pure sources of non-ionizing radiation available (e.g. reactor neutrons). In the second case, it is typically assumed that the impact of the parasitic $\gamma$-rays found in the neutron beams is negligible. We checked this assumption by irradiating MAPS with $\gamma$-rays and comparing the radiation damage generated with the one in neutron irradiated sensors. We conclude that the parasitic radiation doses may cause non-negligible radiation damage. Based on the results we propose a procedure to recognize and to suppress the effect of the related parasitic ionizing radiation damage.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2013

Real-time manifestation of strongly coupled spin and charge order parameters in stripe-ordered nickelates via time-resolved resonant x-ray diffraction

We investigate the order parameter dynamics of the stripe-ordered nickelate, La$_{1.75}$Sr$_{0.25}$NiO$_4$, using time-resolved resonant X-ray diffraction. In spite of distinct spin and charge energy scales, the two order parameters' amplitude dynamics are found to be linked together due to strong coupling. Additionally, the vector nature of the spin sector introduces a longer re-orientation time scale which is absent in the charge sector. These findings demonstrate that the correlation linking the symmetry-broken states does not unbind during the non-equilibrium process, and the time scales are not necessarily associated with the characteristic energy scales of individual degrees of freedom.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

Phase Fluctuations and the Absence of Topological Defects in Photo-excited Charge Ordered Nickelate

The dynamics of an order parameter's amplitude and phase determines the collective behaviour of novel states emerged in complex materials. Time- and momentum-resolved pump-probe spectroscopy, by virtue of its ability to measure material properties at atomic and electronic time scales and create excited states not accessible by the conventional means can decouple entangled degrees of freedom by visualizing their corresponding dynamics in the time domain. Here, combining time-resolved femotosecond optical and resonant x-ray diffraction measurements on striped La1.75Sr0.25NiO4, we reveal unforeseen photo-induced phase fluctuations of the charge order parameter. Such fluctuations preserve long-range order without creating topological defects, unlike thermal phase fluctuations near the critical temperature in equilibrium10. Importantly, relaxation of the phase fluctuations are found to be an order of magnitude slower than that of the order parameter's amplitude fluctuations, and thus limit charge order recovery. This discovery of new aspect to phase fluctuation provides more holistic view for the importance of phase in ordering phenomena of quantum matter.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2011

Femtosecond dynamics of the collinear-to-spiral antiferromagnetic phase transition in CuO

We report on the ultrafast dynamics of magnetic order in a single crystal of CuO at a temperature of 207 K in response to strong optical excitation using femtosecond resonant x-ray diffraction. In the experiment, a femtosecond laser pulse induces a sudden, nonequilibrium increase in magnetic disorder. After a short delay ranging from 400 fs to 2 ps, we observe changes in the relative intensity of the magnetic ordering diffraction peaks that indicate a shift from a collinear commensurate phase to a spiral incommensurate phase. These results indicate that the ultimate speed for this antiferromagnetic re-orientation transition in CuO is limited by the long-wavelength magnetic excitation connecting the two phases.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2010

Rb-85 tunable-interaction Bose-Einstein condensate machine

We describe our experimental setup for creating stable Bose-Einstein condensates of Rb-85 with tunable interparticle interactions. We use sympathetic cooling with Rb-87 in two stages, initially in a tight Ioffe-Pritchard magnetic trap and subsequently in a weak, large-volume crossed optical dipole trap, using the 155 G Feshbach resonance to manipulate the elastic and inelastic scattering properties of the Rb-85 atoms. Typical Rb-85 condensates contain 4 x 10^4 atoms with a scattering length of a=+200a_0. Our minimalist apparatus is well-suited to experiments on dual-species and spinor Rb condensates, and has several simplifications over the Rb-85 BEC machine at JILA (Papp, 2007; Papp and Wieman, 2006), which we discuss at the end of this article.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗