The current progress of the ALICE Ring Imaging Cherenkov Detector

• Published in: Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment, 2007-10, Vol.580 (2), p.1144-1147
• Main Authors: Braem, A., De Cataldo, G., Davenport, M., Di Mauro, A., Franco, A., Gallas, A., Hoedlmoser, H., Martinengo, P., Nappi, E., Paic, G., Piuz, F., Peskov, V.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: CsI; GEM; Heavy ion; HMPID; Photo-cathode; RICH; TIC
• ISSN: 0168-9002; 1872-9576
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nima.2007.06.050

Recently, the last two modules (out of seven) of the ALICE High Momentum Particle Identification Detector (HMPID) were assembled and tested. The full detector, after a pre-commissioning phase, has been installed in the experimental area, inside the ALICE solenoid, at the end of September 2006. In this paper, we review the status of the ALICE/HMPID project and we present a summary of the series production of the CsI photo-cathodes. We describe the key features of the production procedure which ensures high-quality photo-cathodes as well as the results of the quality assessment performed by means of a specially developed 2D scanner system able to produce a detailed map of the CsI photo-current over the entire photo-cathode surface. Finally, we present our recent R&D efforts toward the development of a novel generation of imaging Cherenkov detectors with the aim to identify, in heavy-ion collisions, hadrons up to 30 GeV/ c.