[Paper Review] Summary of One Year Operation of the EUDET CMOS Pixel Telescope

Ingrid-Maria Gregor|ArXiv.org|Jan 6, 2009

Particle Detector Development and Performance1 references3 citations

TL;DR

This paper presents the one-year operational performance of the EUDET CMOS pixel telescope, a modular, high-resolution beam telescope using monolithic active pixel sensors (MAPS) for detector R&D. It demonstrates a position resolution of 3.0 μm, validated through test beam measurements at CERN and DESY, with successful use by seven R&D groups for DUT characterization under real beam conditions.

ABSTRACT

Within the EUDET consortium a high resolution pixel beam telescope is being developed. The telescope consists of up to six planes of monolithic active pixel sensors. A flexible data acquisition environment is available for the telescope and the system is equipped with all the required infrastructure. Since the first installation of a demonstrator telescope in 2007, it has been extensively tested and used by various detector R&D groups. The results of test beam measurements are described here, demonstrating the telescope performance.

Motivation & Objective

• To develop a high-resolution, modular beam telescope for testing and characterizing new detector technologies.
• To achieve a position resolution below 3.0 μm for precise track reconstruction in test beam environments.
• To provide a flexible, scalable data acquisition and analysis system for diverse detector R&D groups.
• To validate the telescope's performance using high-energy hadron and electron beams at CERN and DESY.
• To support the International Linear Collider (ILC) detector R&D by offering a standardized, high-performance test beam infrastructure.

Proposed method

• The telescope uses up to six planes of monolithic active pixel sensors (MimoTEL, 0.35 μm AMS process) with 30×30 μm² pixel pitch.
• A modular DAQ system based on EUDAQ, using VME64x and USB2.0 interfaces, enables high-speed data transfer and flexible control.
• The EUDRB (EUDET Data Reduction Board) performs online data processing and reduction, supporting both VME64x and USB2.0 I/O.
• A trigger logic unit (TLU) generates event timestamps and handles coincidence/anticoincidence logic for four scintillators.
• The EUDAQ software framework, written in C++, uses socket-based communication between producer tasks and a central data collector.
• Offline reconstruction is performed using EUTelescope, a Marlin-based processor suite that enables grid-computing and modular analysis.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 Can a modular, high-resolution pixel telescope achieve a position resolution of 3.0 μm in real test beam conditions?
• RQ2 How effective is the EUDAQ data acquisition system in supporting real-time data collection and monitoring across diverse detector R&D setups?
• RQ3 To what extent does the telescope's performance support accurate track reconstruction and DUT (Device Under Test) resolution studies?
• RQ4 Can the telescope infrastructure be flexibly adapted for use by multiple independent R&D groups?
• RQ5 What is the long-term operational stability and reliability of the demonstrator telescope in high-rate beam environments?

Key findings

• The telescope achieved a position resolution of 3.0 μm, as confirmed by residuals in track reconstruction at CERN's SPS hadron beam.
• Residual distributions in the middle sensor (used as DUT) showed widths consistent with the expected resolution for a 3.0 μm sensor.
• Test beam results at DESY using 3 and 6 GeV electrons extrapolated to infinite energy confirmed the 3.0 μm resolution performance.
• Seven independent detector R&D groups successfully used the telescope for resolution studies and reported satisfaction with its performance.
• The EUDAQ and EUTelescope software frameworks enabled reliable, scalable data acquisition and offline analysis across multiple platforms.
• The modular design of the DAQ hardware and software allowed for easy integration, testing, and future upgrades to the final telescope system.