EEL-test-plan

Test Plan for electron detector work in EEL (summer 2017)

Noise reduction - Given that the signal is as large as it is going to get, shielding and grounding of electronics will be increase to lower the noise as much as possible before looking at detector signal. The plan is to start with external shielding, ie. covering openings and electronics in aluminum and making the shielding grounded at a common point as best I can. Currently there are a number of places, the electronics crate, openings to the detector can, filter modules, that are poorly or not at all shielded. Electronic noise and common grounding in the electronic crate will also be checked. I am hoping to push the base noise for these source down as low as possible and in the long run find a better method than aluminium foil if possible.

Take away(s) -- Estimate on noise floor

Items needed -- Blank covers for detector can -- Aluminim foil -- Source on the order of an MeV

Comparison of Thin and Thick planes - Look at the detector signal from a radiation source for both the thin and the thick plane(s). This will require lowering the detectors out of their housing to remove all but the plane of interests. The hope is that the thick plane will have larger signal and we can quantify the difference if one exists. To perform the test all but one plane will be removed and a radiative source will be used to make a signal in the detector. No trigger will be form and the signal will be investigated on the scope only.

Take away(s) --Estimate of signal absolute and relative signal size of thin and thick plane detectors

Items needed -- O-scope -- Source on the order of an MeV

Noise run - Take a few runs to quantify the noise background including the full electronics chain and possibly get a better idea of it's source. This is just a repeat of the first test but now with the full electronics chain. This test will require at a minimum a working TDC which we have but has not been setup at present.

Take away(s) -- Estimate of noise floor including DAQ electronics

Items needed -- Read out electronics including TDC -- Source on the order of an MeV

Trigger runs - Runs will be taken with both the thin and thick planes using outer planes as triggers. Using an external source for a trigger in this case is not likely viable as we don't have any sources that are energetic enough to properly trigger both planes. The solution will be to trigger on cosmics. For this to work we will need to find a way to rotate the detector can; we will likely need to build a small structure to hold the detector housing during the tests. Unistrut would probably be most useful for this purpose. We will also need to decide what will be used as a read out for the tests, if possible the ETROC seems to be the best choice given the difficulties with pattern recognition in forming the trigger.

Take away(s) -- Signal to noise estimates for thin/thick planes including full electronics chain.

Items needed -- Cables for output ETROC -- Unistrut and required tools/materials to make a small support