arXiv subjects

E. Cristaldo

Publications and source records attributed to E. Cristaldo.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Cosmic Ray Measurements Using Charge and Light Readout in a Pixelated Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber

Liquid argon time projection chambers have emerged as a competitive technology for detecting solar neutrinos. The SoLAr collaboration was formed to explore argon detectors with pixelated light and charge readout, aiming for high detection efficiency and improved energy resolution. Building on the success of an initial prototype, we present results obtained with a second SoLAr prototype (V2), a $30 \times 30 \times 30$ cm$^{3}$ time projection chamber operated in a cryostat containing several hundred kilograms of liquid argon. We report measurements of cosmic-ray muons using both tracking and calorimetry from light and charge sensors, and we highlight the improved performance achieved through combined charge and light reconstruction. These results demonstrate the promise of dual-readout detectors and motivate future prototyping efforts toward kiloton-scale facilities.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2025

Optimization of the X-Arapuca Photon Collection Efficiency for the DUNE Horizontal Drift Far Detector

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) Far Detector (FD) Photon Detection System (PDS) employs the X-Arapuca concept, a photon trapping system relying on reflective surfaces and dichroic filters. In this paper are reported measurements, performed at the University of Milano-Bicocca, aimed at increasing the FD Horizontal Drift (HD) PDS module efficiency. The baseline implementation of the X-Arapuca concept for the FD-HD PDS module is close to the DUNE requirements as demonstrated in the collaborations laboratory testing. However, an increased performance would provide a safety margin for a detector planned to be operated for 30 years, without possibility of performing maintenance. A higher detector performance would also benefit the DUNE low energy physics program. The already proven Milano-Bicocca setup has been utilized to test different PDS module configurations comparing them to the original baseline. Exploiting prior knowledge of the X-Arapuca components and Geant4 based optical simulations it has been possible to achieve up to an ~84% performance increase over the baseline design. In the following it is presented the testing procedure, the performed measurements and a brief discussion on the obtained results.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2023

Front-end Electronics and Optimal Ganging Schemes for Single Photon Detection with Large Arrays of SiPMs in Liquid Argon

The operation of large arrays of silicon photomultipliers (SiPM) in tanks of noble liquids requires low noise, low power front-end amplifiers, able to operate reliably in the cryogenic environment. A suitable amplifier needs to be paired with a proper SiPM ganging scheme, meaning the series/parallel combination of SiPMs at its input. This paper presents a simple model to estimate the ganging scheme that gives the best signal to noise ratio once the basic electrical characteristics of the SiPM and amplifier are known. To prove the validity of the model, we used an amplifier based on discrete components, which achieves a white voltage noise in the 0.25-0.37 nV/$\surd$Hz range at liquid nitrogen temperature, while drawing 2-5 mW of power. Combined with the optimal ganging scheme obtained with the model, the amplifier demonstrated excellent single photon sensitivity up to 96 6x6 mm$^2$ SiPMs (total area 34.6 cm$^2$, S/N $\simeq$ 8-11). The measured results are in a good match with calculated values, predicting the possibility to achieve a clear separation of photoelectron peaks also with larger areas.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2022

Cryogenic front-end amplifier design for large SiPM arrays in the DUNE FD1-HD photon detection system

The photon detection system of the first far detector (FD1-HD) of the DUNE experiment will detect scintillation photons produced by particle interactions in a kiloton-scale liquid Argon time projection chamber. The photon detectors of choice are silicon photomultipliers (SiPM), 6$\times$6 mm$^2$ each, arranged in groups of 48, which present a significantly low impedance to the front-end electronics. This paper details the design of a cryogenic amplifier with exceptionally low white voltage noise of 0.37 nV$\sqrt{Hz}$, based on a silicon-germanium input transistor and a BiCMOS fully differential operational amplifier. It yields excellent single photoelectron resolution even at low overvoltage values. The signal rise time is below 100 ns, and the dynamic range is about 2000 photoelectrons at the typical operating overvoltage. It draws 0.7 mA from a single 3.3 V supply, for a power consumption of 2.4 mW per channel. Simplified models were developed to predict the single photolectron signal shape and the signal to noise ratio, with a good match to measured performance.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2021

Cosmic Background Removal with Deep Neural Networks in SBND

In liquid argon time projection chambers exposed to neutrino beams and running on or near surface levels, cosmic muons and other cosmic particles are incident on the detectors while a single neutrino-induced event is being recorded. In practice, this means that data from surface liquid argon time projection chambers will be dominated by cosmic particles, both as a source of event triggers and as the majority of the particle count in true neutrino-triggered events. In this work, we demonstrate a novel application of deep learning techniques to remove these background particles by applying semantic segmentation on full detector images from the SBND detector, the near detector in the Fermilab Short-Baseline Neutrino Program. We use this technique to identify, at single image-pixel level, whether recorded activity originated from cosmic particles or neutrino interactions.

physics.data-an↗

arXiv2020

Construction of precision wire readout planes for the Short-Baseline Near Detector (SBND)

The Short-Baseline Near Detector time projection chamber is unique in the design of its charge readout planes. These anode plane assemblies (APAs) have been fabricated and assembled to meet strict accuracy and precision requirements: wire spacing of 3 mm +/- 0.5 mm and wire tension of 7 N +/- 1 N across 3,964 wires per APA, and flatness within 0.5 mm over the 4 m +/- 2.5 m extent of each APA. This paper describes the design, manufacture and assembly of these key detector components, with a focus on the quality assurance at each stage.

physics.ins-det↗