Chapter 1
Introduction
Custom Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) are often used in the readout of detectors in high-energy physics experiments, as commercial solutions are
commonly not available. By using a custom ASIC the detector groups can record
data with the lowest noise, lowest power, the highest fidelity and the highest integration, which is additionally tailored to their specific detector.
Some of the electronics for the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider
(LHC) at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) has been installed
since the start-up of LHC in 2008. A longer shutdown period is planned for 2019–
2020 where the detector-groups will have the possibility to upgrade the detector and
electronics to cope with the higher collision rates planned for the following years.
Two of the detectors, the TPC and the MCH, will use a newly designed front-end
chip called SAMPA to be able to read out their detector at higher collision rates.
Additionally they will replace much of the readout electronics to adapt to the higher
data rates that will be produced. This section gives an introduction to the detectors
and their motivation for the upgrade.
1.1 The ALICE Experiment
The LHC is a large circular particle collider located on the Swiss-French border
close to Geneva, Switzerland. It lies about 100 m below ground in a tunnel 27 km in
circumference. Two adjacent pipes each containing particles travelling in opposite
direction can be brought together at four interaction points along the beam line as
shown in Fig. 1.1. A Large Ion Collider Experiment (ALICE) [1] is located at one
of these interaction points and is a general-purpose heavy-ion experiment focused
on studying the physics of strong interaction matter and the Quark-Gluon Plasma
(QGP) in lead-lead (Pb–Pb) collisions [1].
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
A. Velure, A Digital Signal Processor for Particle Detectors, Springer Theses,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71559-5_1
1
Introduction
Custom Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) are often used in the readout of detectors in high-energy physics experiments, as commercial solutions are
commonly not available. By using a custom ASIC the detector groups can record
data with the lowest noise, lowest power, the highest fidelity and the highest integration, which is additionally tailored to their specific detector.
Some of the electronics for the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider
(LHC) at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) has been installed
since the start-up of LHC in 2008. A longer shutdown period is planned for 2019–
2020 where the detector-groups will have the possibility to upgrade the detector and
electronics to cope with the higher collision rates planned for the following years.
Two of the detectors, the TPC and the MCH, will use a newly designed front-end
chip called SAMPA to be able to read out their detector at higher collision rates.
Additionally they will replace much of the readout electronics to adapt to the higher
data rates that will be produced. This section gives an introduction to the detectors
and their motivation for the upgrade.
1.1 The ALICE Experiment
The LHC is a large circular particle collider located on the Swiss-French border
close to Geneva, Switzerland. It lies about 100 m below ground in a tunnel 27 km in
circumference. Two adjacent pipes each containing particles travelling in opposite
direction can be brought together at four interaction points along the beam line as
shown in Fig. 1.1. A Large Ion Collider Experiment (ALICE) [1] is located at one
of these interaction points and is a general-purpose heavy-ion experiment focused
on studying the physics of strong interaction matter and the Quark-Gluon Plasma
(QGP) in lead-lead (Pb–Pb) collisions [1].
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
A. Velure, A Digital Signal Processor for Particle Detectors, Springer Theses,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71559-5_1
1