arXiv subjects

Mengke Cai

Publications and source records attributed to Mengke Cai.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

A Telescope System for Charge and Position Measurement of High Energy Nuclei

A high-granularity telescope system with a large sensitive area and low material budget has been developed for high-energy heavy ion beam tests. The telescope consists of nine layers of silicon microstrip detectors (SSDs), whose performance was validated through a heavy ion beam test at the CERN SPS. A hybrid machine learning algorithm is proposed to address the challenges of nuclear charge measurement with SSDs. The system achieves a spatial resolution of $\mathcal{O}(1) \,$\SI{}{\micro\metre} and a charge resolution better than 0.16 charge units for nuclei from $Z = 1$ to $Z = 29$, with a sensitive area of $8 \times 8 \, \mathrm{cm}^2$. To the best of our knowledge, this represents the most precise charge and spatial resolution simultaneously achieved by a silicon telescope to date.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2026

Beam Test Characterization of Silicon Microstrip Detector Flight-Model Ladders for the AMS-02 Upgrade

The AMS-02 experiment plans to install a new silicon microstrip tracker layer (Layer-0) on top of the existing detector, increasing the cosmic-ray acceptance by a factor of 3. Layer-0 employs a design in which multiple silicon microstrip detectors (SSDs) are connected in series to form long detector ladders. We present a detailed performance study of the flight-model ladders using a 350~GeV mixed hadron beam at the CERN SPS. The study focuses on the following aspects: (i) the performance of ladders with different numbers of SSDs, for which the intrinsic spatial resolution at normal incidence varies from $9.5~\mu\mathrm{m}$ to $11.4~\mu\mathrm{m}$ for ladders composed of 8 to 12 SSDs; (ii) the response consistency for particles impacting on the \emph{Head} and \emph{Tail} regions of the ladder; and (iii) the dependence of the detector performance on the particle incidence angle.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2026

Design and First Results of COFFEE3: A 55nm HVCMOS Pixel Sensor Prototype for High-Energy Physics Applications

Motivated by the stringent requirements of the Upstream Pixel (UP) tracker in the LHCb Upgrade II and the Inner Tracking detector (ITK) of the Circular Electron Positron Collider, the COFFEE series of pixel sensor chips have been developed using a 55nm High-Voltage CMOS (HVCMOS) process. The primary objective is to achieve a time resolution of a few nanoseconds under a hit density of up to 100 MHz/cm$^2$, while maintaining fine spatial resolution ($\sim$10 $\mu$m) and reasonable power consumption ($<$200 mW/cm$^2$). Building on the process validation of the COFFEE2 prototype, this work presents the design and preliminary test results of COFFEE3-a prototype integrating two distinct readout architectures. Architecture 1, tailored for the current triple-well process, adopts NMOS-only in-pixel circuitry and innovative column-level readout to handle high hit densities. The time walk of pixel-level signal is controlled within 10 ns, and the Time of Arrival (TOA) and Time over Threshold (TOT) are measured with a system clock with the period of 25 ns in peripheral circuits. Architecture 2, developed for future possible processes with p-type buried layer isolation, features pixel-level time measurement and storage. A chip-level Time-to-Digital Converter (TDC) is used and the part of Voltage-Controlled Delay Line (VCDL) is copied in each pixel to get a high time resolution. The TOA resolution is estimated to be 4.2 ns and the TOT resolution 8.4 ns. COFFEE3, with a layout size of 3$\times$4 mm$^2$, was manufactured and has undergone preliminary tests. Charge injection tests for analog circuits, and laser tests for full readout chains, confirm that both architectures operate as expected. Next step work will focus on characterizing key performance such as the timing resolution, radiation hardness, and tracking performance of minimum ionising particles.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2025

4H-SiC PIN detector for alpha particles from room temperature to 90 {\deg}C

In the field of high-energy particle detection, detectors operating in high-radiation environments primarily face high costs associated with power consumption and cooling systems. Therefore, the development of particle detectors capable of stable operation at room temperature or even elevated temperatures is of great significance. Silicon carbide (SiC) exhibits significant potential for particle detector applications due to its exceptional carrier mobility, radiation hardness, and thermal stability. Over the past decade, significant breakthroughs in silicon carbide epitaxial growth technology and device processing techniques have enabled the development of SiC-based particle detectors, providing a new technological pathway for particle detection in high-temperature environments. In this work, we fabricate a 4H-SiC PIN detector, named SIlicon CARbide (SICAR) and characterize its leakage current, capacitance, and charge collection across varying temperatures. The results indicate that the detector maintains a very low leakage current (< 10 nA) at 90 C, with no degradation in depletion capacitance or charge collection performance. Additionally, it achieves a fast rise time of 333 ps at 90 C, confirming its potential for high-temperature radiation detection applications.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2025

A Silicon Microstrip Detector for Power-Limited and Large Sensitive Area Applications

A silicon microstrip detector (SSD) has been developed to have state of the art spatial resolution and a large sensitive area under stringent power constraints. The design incorporates three floating strips with their bias resistors inserted between two aluminum readout strips. Beam test measurements with the single sensor confirmed that this configuration achieves a total detection efficiency of $99.8 \, \%$ and spatial resolution $7.6 \, \mathrm{\mu m}$ for MIPs. A double-$\eta$ algorithm was developed to optimize hit position reconstruction for this SSD. The design can be adapted for large area silicon detectors.

physics.ins-det↗