A PMT-Block test bench

• Published in: Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment, 2006-08, Vol.564 (1), p.597-607
• Main Authors: Adragna, P., Antonaki, A., Boudagov, I., Cavasinni, V., Costanzo, D., Del Prete, T., Dotti, A., Fassouliotis, D., Giakoumopoulou, V., Giokaris, N., Guicheney, C., Karali, E., Khubua, J., Lebessi, M., Lupi, A., Manoussakis, A., Mazzoni, E., Minashvili, I., Morphi, M., Pagani, G.F., Paoletti, R., Rizzi, D., Roda, C., Sarri, F., Staveris-Polykalas, Ath, Staveris-Polykalas, Th, Stoudenov, S., Usai, G., Vazeille, F., Vellidis, C., Vichou, I., Vivarelli, I., Volpi, M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Calorimeter; F/E electronics; High Energy Physics - Experiment; Instrumentation and Detectors; Photomultiplier; Physics
• ISSN: 0168-9002; 1872-9576
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nima.2006.03.045

The front-end electronics of the ATLAS hadronic calorimeter (Tile Cal) is housed in a unit, called PMT-Block. The PMT-Block is a compact instrument comprising a light mixer, a PMT together with its divider and a 3-in-1 card, which provides shaping, amplification and integration for the signals. This instrument needs to be qualified before being assembled on the detector. A PMT-Block test bench has been developed for this purpose. This test bench is a system which allows fast, albeit accurate enough, measurements of the main properties of a complete PMT-Block. The system, both hardware and software, and the protocol used for the PMT-Blocks characterization are described in detail in this report. The results obtained in the test of about 10 000 PMT-Blocks needed for the instrumentation of the ATLAS (LHC-CERN) hadronic Tile Calorimeter are also reported.