CERN Accelerating science

Article
Report number arXiv:2209.13379
Title Performance of a prototype TORCH time-of-flight detector
Author(s) Bhasin, S. (Bristol U. ; Bath U.) ; Blake, T. (Warwick U.) ; Brook, N.H. (Bath U.) ; Cicala, M.F. (Warwick U.) ; Conneely, T. (Astrium Ltd., Stevenage) ; Cussans, D. (Bristol U.) ; van Dijk, M.W.U. (CERN) ; Forty, R. (CERN) ; Frei, C. (CERN) ; Gabriel, E.P.M. (Edinburgh U., Inst. Astron.) Show all 22 authors
Publication 2023-03-06
Imprint 2022-09-27
Number of pages 19
Note 18 pages, 16 figures, to be published in Nucl. Instrum. Methods A. During review, clarity added to description throughout; updated figures 15 and 16; revised argument in section 6.3
In: Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res., A 1050 (2023) 168181
DOI 10.1016/j.nima.2023.168181 (publication)
Subject category hep-ex ; Particle Physics - Experiment ; physics.ins-det ; Detectors and Experimental Techniques
Abstract TORCH is a novel time-of-flight detector, designed to provide charged particle identification of pions, kaons and protons in the momentum range 2-20 GeV/c over a 9.5 m flight path. A detector module, comprising a 10mm thick quartz plate, provides a source of Cherenkov photons which propagate via total internal reflection to one end of the plate. Here, the photons are focused onto an array of custom-designed Micro-Channel Plate Photo-Multiplier Tubes (MCP-PMTs) which measure their positions and arrival times. The target time resolution per photon is 70 ps which, for 30 detected photons per charged particle, results in a 10-15 ps time-of-flight resolution. A 1.25 m length TORCH prototype module employing two MCP-PMTs has been developed, and tested at the CERN PS using a charged hadron beam of 8 GeV/c momentum. The construction of the module, the properties of the MCP-PMTs and the readout electronics are described. Measurements of the collected photon yields and single-photon time resolutions have been performed as a function of particle entry points on the plate and compared to expectations. These studies show that the performance of the TORCH prototype approaches the design goals for the full-scale detector.
Copyright/License preprint: (License: CC BY 4.0)
publication: © 2023-2024 The Author(s) (License: CC BY 4.0)



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