Readout electronics for low occupancy High-Pressure Gas TPCs
Journal Article
Overview
abstract
Abstract; High-Pressure Gas Time; Projection Chambers (HPgTPCs) have benefits such as low energy; thresholds, magnetisability, and 4π acceptance, making them; ideal for neutrino experiments such as; DUNE. We present the design of an; FPGA-based solution optimised for; Gaseous Argon Near Detector (ND-GAr),; which is part of the Phase-II more capable near detector for; DUNE. These electronics reduce the cost; significantly compared to using collider readout electronics, which; are typically designed for much higher occupancy and therefore, for; example, need much larger numbers of FPGAs and power per channel.; We demonstrate the performance of our electronics with the; Teststand for an Overpressurised Argon; Detector (TOAD) at Fermilab in the US at a range of pressures and; gas mixtures up to 4.5 barA,; reading out ∼10 000; channels from a Multi-Wire Proportional; Chamber (MWPC). The operation took place between April and July; of 2024. We measure the noise characteristics of the system to be; sufficiently low, and we identify sources of noise that can be; further mitigated in the next iteration. We also note that the; cooling scheme used in the test requires improvement before; full-scale deployment. Despite these necessary improvements, we show; that the system can fulfil the needs of a; HPgTPC for a fraction of the price of; collider readout electronics.
