Author: Pribyl, L.
Paper Title Page
MOPF05 Operating Semiconductor Timepix Detector with Optical Readout in an Extremely Hostile Environment of Laser Plasma Acceleration Experiment 208
 
  • L. Pribyl
    Czech Republic Academy of Sciences, Institute of Physics, Prague, Czech Republic
 
  The laser plasma acceleration (LPA) experiments produce very intensive electromagnetic pulses (EMP) complicating operation of sensitive electronic detectors. We present our experience with new optical readout and EMP shielding for hybrid silicon pixel detector Timepix*, which enabled its operation in an extremely hostile electromagnetic LPA environment. The Timepix detector provides a matrix of 256x256 spectroscopic channels with 55 μm pitch. An optical readout, battery powering and shielding against electromagnetic pulses (EMP) have been developed as part of the ELI Beamlines/IEAP project for the detector Timepix and it significantly improved its resistance to EMP with respect to previous setup using metallic cables for both data acquisition and powering. The new optical setup was successfully tested under vacuum at Prague Asterix Laser System (PALS) during experiments with laser pulses of energies up to 700 J and duration of 350 ps bombarding thin foil solid target. Electromagnetic field was measured both outside the vacuum chamber and inside. The recorded spectrometric data were analyzed and interpreted in a context of an independent experimental campaign run in parallel.
* X. Llopart et al.: Timepix, a 65k Programmable Pixel Readout Chip for Arrival Time, Energy and/or Photon Counting Measurements, Nucl. Instr. and Meth. in Phys. Res. A. Vol. 581 (2007), p485