Preamplifier-shaper prototype for the Fast Transition Detector of the Compressed Baryonic Matter (CBM) experiment at FAIR

In this work a preamplifier-shaper prototype for the Fast Transition Detector of the Compressed BaryonicMatter (CBM) experiment at FAIR fabricated using a 0.35 μm CMOS technology will be presented. The ASIC integrates 16 identical Charge Sensitive Amplifiers (CSA) followed by a Pole-Zero network, two bridged-T filters, Common-Mode FeedBack (CMFB) network and two non-inverting level shifting stages. The circuit is optimized for a detector capacitance Cd of (5-10)pF. Measurement results confirm the noise of 330 e− + 12 e−/pF obtained in simulations for a pulse with a Full Width Half Maximum (FWHM) of 71 ns. The circuit recovers to the baseline within 200 ns. The conversion gain is 12.64 mV/fC. An integral nonlinearity of 0.7% is also achieved. The maximum output swing is 2 V. The power consumption is 16 mW/channel where the main contributors are the input transistor and the level shifting stage with 5.3 mW and 6.6 mW, respectively. The total area of the chip is 12 mm2. Although the circuit was designed for a positive input charge it has in addition the ability of handling negative current pulses of about 85% of the typical charge of 165 fC without any degradation of the signal. The chip was submitted for manufacturing in AMS’s C35B4M3 0.35 micron CMOS technology in October 2005. This circuit has been successfully used in the CBM test-beam at GSI Darmstadt in February 2006

Multi-Gigabit Wireless data transfer at 60 GHz

In this paper we describe the status of the first prototype of the 60 GHz wireless Multi-gigabit data transfer topology currently under development at University of Heidelberg using IBM 130 nm SiGe HBT BiCMOS technology. The 60 GHz band is very suitable for high data rate and short distance applications as for example needed in the HEP experments. The wireless transceiver consist of a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter includes an On-Off Keying (OOK) modulator, an Local Oscillator (LO), a Power Amplifier (PA) and a BandPass Filter (BPF). The receiver part is composed of a BandPass- Filter (BPF), a Low Noise Amplifier (LNA), a double balanced down-convert Gilbert mixer, a Local Oscillator (LO), then a BPF to remove the mixer introduced noise, an Intermediate Amplifier (IF), an On-Off Keying demodulator and a limiting amplifier. The first prototype would be able to handle a data-rate of about 3.5 Gbps over a link distance of 1 m. The first simulations of the LNA show that a Noise Figure (NF) of 5 dB, a power gain of 21 dB at 60 GHz with a 3 dB bandwidth of more than 20 GHz with a power consumption 11 mW are achieved. Simulations of the PA show an output referred compression point P1dB of 19.7 dB at 60 GHz.Comment: Proceedings of the WIT201

Ethnocentrism Unveiled A Quantitative Analysis of the Radical European Parties and Their Voters

Etnosentrisme er et alvorlig problem i europeisk partipolitikk i dagens politiskelandskap, men tilstedeværelsen av dette konseptet er underforstått. Denne masteroppgaven utforsker dette konseptet i forhold til kjerneverdiene og nyansene som skiller det fra assosierte og tett knyttete konsepter. Dessuten kartlegger oppgaven tilstedeværelsen av etnosentrisme i Europa ved å undersøke om enten de europeiske radikale venstre- og høyre partiene eller deres velgere bidrar til en overlapp. For å gjennomføre dette benytter oppgaven to ulike datasett og anvender en metode i form av kvantitativ analyse. I tillegg deler oppgaven Europa i to regioner i form av West Europa og Sentral/Øst Europa, i lag med deres respektive partier og velgere. Dette tillater oppgaven å tydeligere utdype det Europeiske landskapet i form av etnosentrisme ettersom den både kan forske på forskjellene mellom og innad i regionene, i tillegg til partiene og velgerne deres. Oppgaven oppnår også større innsikt over flere aspekter som assosieres med de radikale partiene, som bekrefter og utfordrer den etablerte litteraturen. Funnene til oppgaven demonstrerer at etnosentrisme varierer fra de radikale partiene til velgerne deres, ettersom bare de sistnevnte skaper en overlap mellom hverandre. Denne varaisjonen mellom velgere og partier er tydeligst i tilfellet av de radikale venstre partiene, ettersom oppgaven finner at de radikale høyre partiene er en mer samlet partifamilie. Oppgaven gjør det tydelig at de radikale ventre partiene i vest are samlet i forhold til hverandre, mens den andre regionen viser ikke denne samlingen. På dette grunnlaget ender venstersiden uten representativt grunnlag for alle asspekter til sine velgere. Til slutt finner oppgaven store forskjeller mellom de to regionene i Europa mellom velgere. Den sentrale forskjellen er er hvordan den sistnevnte viser større støtte for generell etnosentrisme og de sossierte verdiene.Ethnocentrism is a crucial issue among European party politics today, yet its presence is not understood to its full extent. This master thesis examines the concept's core values and nuances to differentiate it from other closely associated concepts. Furthermore, the thesis maps out the presence of ethnocentrism in Europe by investigating both the European radical left and radical right. To do so, it employs multiple datasets and applies a quantitative analysis to investigate both the radical voters and the radical parties. In addition, the thesis divides Europe into two regions, Western Europe and Central/Eastern Europe, along with their respective parties and voters. Doing so allows the thesis to further detail the landscape of European ethnocentrism as it investigates the differences across the European regions and the parties within them. In addition, the thesis gains insight into multiple aspects of the radical parties and their voters, confirming and challenging the established literature on the topic. The findings of the thesis exhibit ethnocentrism to vary between the radical voters and their parties, with only the voters creating an overlap between themselves. This variation between voter and party is the most evident in the case among the radical left parties, as the thesis finds the radical right to be a more unified party family than the left. The thesis makes it apparent that the Western radical left parties are cohesive in regard to one another, while the Central/Eastern ones are not. Hence, the Western parties of the left consistently lack this specific type of representation in respect of their voters. Furthermore, the thesis finds there to be stark differences between Western and Central/Eastern Europe amongst voters. The central difference is how the latter, in general, is more opposed to ethnocentrism as well as its associated concepts

The PreAmplifier ShAper for the ALICE TPC-Detector

In this paper the PreAmplifier ShAper (PASA) for the Time Projection Chamber (TPC) of the ALICE experiment at LHC is presented. The ALICE TPC PASA is an ASIC that integrates 16 identical channels, each consisting of Charge Sensitive Amplifiers (CSA) followed by a Pole-Zero network, self-adaptive bias network, two second-order bridged-T filters, two non-inverting level shifters and a start-up circuit. The circuit is optimized for a detector capacitance of 18-25 pF. For an input capacitance of 25 pF, the PASA features a conversion gain of 12.74 mV/fC, a peaking time of 160 ns, a FWHM of 190 ns, a power consumption of 11.65 mW/ch and an equivalent noise charge of 244e + 17e/pF. The circuit recovers smoothly to the baseline in about 600 ns. An integral non-linearity of 0.19% with an output swing of about 2.1 V is also achieved. The total area of the chip is 18 mm$^2$ and is implemented in AMS's C35B3C1 0.35 micron CMOS technology. Detailed characterization test were performed on about 48000 PASA circuits before mounting them on the ALICE TPC front-end cards. After more than two years of operation of the ALICE TPC with p-p and Pb-Pb collisions, the PASA has demonstrated to fulfill all requirements

Development of a selftriggered high counting rate ASIC for readout of 2D gas microstrip neutron detectors

In the frame of the DETNI project a 32-channel ASIC suitable for readout of a novel 2D thermal neutron detector based on a hybrid low-pressure Micro-Strip Gas Chamber with solid 157Gd converter has been developed. Each channel delivers position information, a fast time stamp of 2 ns resolution and the signal amplitude (called energy below). The time stamp is used for correlating the signals from X and Y strips while the amplitude is used for finding the center of gravity of a cluster of strips. The timing and energy information are stored in derandomizing buffers and read out via token ring architecture

Development of Wireless Techniques in Data and Power Transmission - Application for Particle Physics Detectors

Wireless techniques have developed extremely fast over the last decade and using them for data and power transmission in particle physics detectors is not science- fiction any more. During the last years several research groups have independently thought of making it a reality. Wireless techniques became a mature field for research and new developments might have impact on future particle physics experiments. The Instrumentation Frontier was set up as a part of the SnowMass 2013 Community Summer Study [1] to examine the instrumentation R&D for the particle physics research over the coming decades: {\guillemotleft} To succeed we need to make technical and scientific innovation a priority in the field {\guillemotright}. Wireless data transmission was identified as one of the innovations that could revolutionize the transmission of data out of the detector. Power delivery was another challenge mentioned in the same report. We propose a collaboration to identify the specific needs of different projects that might benefit from wireless techniques. The objective is to provide a common platform for research and development in order to optimize effectiveness and cost, with the aim of designing and testing wireless demonstrators for large instrumentation systems

Transition Radiation Spectra of Electrons from 1 to 10 GeV/c in Regular and Irregular Radiators

We present measurements of the spectral distribution of transition radiation generated by electrons of momentum 1 to 10 GeV/c in different radiator types. We investigate periodic foil radiators and irregular foam and fiber materials. The transition radiation photons are detected by prototypes of the drift chambers to be used in the Transition Radiation Detector (TRD) of the ALICE experiment at CERN, which are filled with a Xe, CO2 (15 %) mixture. The measurements are compared to simulations in order to enhance the quantitative understanding of transition radiation production, in particular the momentum dependence of the transition radiation yield.Comment: 18 pages, 15 figures, submitted to Nucl. Instr. Meth. Phys. Res.

Position Reconstruction in Drift Chambers operated with Xe, CO2 (15%)

We present measurements of position and angular resolution of drift chambers operated with a Xe,CO$_2$(15%) mixture. The results are compared to Monte Carlo simulations and important systematic effects, in particular the dispersive nature of the absorption of transition radiation and non-linearities, are discussed. The measurements were carried out with prototype drift chambers of the ALICE Transition Radiation Detector, but our findings can be generalized to other drift chambers with similar geometry, where the electron drift is perpendicular to the wire planes.Comment: 30 pages, 18 figure

Space charge in drift chambers operated with the Xe,CO2(15%) mixture

Using prototype modules of the ALICE Transition Radiation Detector we investigate space charge effects and the dependence of the pion rejection performance on the incident angle of the ionizing particle. The average pulse height distributions in the drift chambers operated with the Xe,CO2(15%) mixture provide quantitative information on the gas gain reduction due to space charge accumulating during the drift of the primary ionization. Our results demonstrate that the pion rejection performance of a TRD is better for tracks which are not at normal incidence to the anode wires. We present detailed simulations of detector signals, which reproduce the measurements and lend strong support to our interpretation of the measurements in terms of space charge effects.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in Nucl.Instrum.Meth. A. Data files available at http://www-alice.gsi.de/tr

Energy loss of pions and electrons of 1 to 6 GeV/c in drift chambers operated with Xe,CO2(15%)

We present measurements of the energy loss of pions and electrons in drift chambers operated with a Xe,CO2(15%) mixture. The measurements are carried out for particle momenta from 1 to 6 GeV/c using prototype drift chambers for the ALICE TRD. Microscopic calculations are performed using input parameters calculated with GEANT3. These calculations reproduce well the measured average and most probable values for pions, but a higher Fermi plateau is required in order to reproduce our electron data. The widths of the measured distributions are smaller for data compared to the calculations. The electron/pion identification performance using the energy loss is also presented.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in Nucl.Instrum.Meth.