P. Depasse

We have tested new scintillator modules with silicon photodiode readout for the upgraded Active Lead Rings (ALR) of the L3 detector at LEP II. Results are presented from data recorded in muon and electron test beams with particular emphasis on the light production and collection as a function of the particle impact position on the scintillator modules. The results from the beam test data will be used for the design of the readout and trigger electronics in conjunction with the required ALR performance as an electron tagger and beam background monitor at LEP II.

In the framework of its search for new heavy, fast and radiation hard scintillators for calorimetry at future colliders, the Crystal Clear Collaboration performed a systematic investigation of the properties and of the scintillation and radiation damage mechanisms of CeF3 monocrystals. Many samples of various dimensions up to 3 × 3 × 28 cm3 were produced by industry and characterised in the laboratories by different methods such as: optical transmission, light yield and decay time measurements, excitation and emission spectra, gamma and neutron irradiations. The results of these measurements are discussed. The measured light yield is compared to the theoretical expectations. Tests in high energy electron beams on a crystal matrix were also performed. The suitability of CeF3 for calorimetry at high rate machines is confirmed. Production and economical considerations are discussed.

The result of a search at the LHC for heavy stable charged particles produced in pp collisions at $ \sqrt {s} = 7\;{\text{TeV}} $ is described. The data sample was collected with the CMS detector and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 3.1 pb−1. Momentum and ionization-energy-loss measurements in the inner tracker detector are used to identify tracks compatible with heavy slow-moving particles. Additionally, tracks passing muon identification requirements are also analyzed for the same signature. In each case, no candidate passes the selection, with an expected background of less than 0.1 events. A lower limit at the 95% confidence level on the mass of a stable gluino is set at 398GeV/c 2, using a conventional model of nuclear interactions that allows charged hadrons containing this particle to reach the muon detectors. A lower limit of 311 GeV/c 2 is also set for a stable gluino in a conservative scenario of complete charge suppression, where any hadron containing this particle becomes neutral before reaching the muon detectors.

Hadronic event shapes have been measured in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV, with a data sample collected with the CMS detector at the LHC. The sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 3.2 inverse picobarns. Event-shape distributions, corrected for detector response, are compared with five models of QCD multijet production.

A measurement of the top-antitop production cross section in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV has been performed at the LHC with the CMS detector. The analysis uses a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 inverse picobarns and is based on the reconstruction of the final state with one isolated, high transverse-momentum electron or muon and three or more hadronic jets. The kinematic properties of the events are used to separate the top-antitop signal from W+jets and QCD multijet background events. The measured cross section is 173 + 39 - 32 (stat. + syst.) pb, consistent with standard model expectations.

The charge asymmetry in the production of top quark and antiquark pairs is measured in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV. The data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.6 inverse femtobarns, were collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. Events with a single isolated electron or muon, and four or more jets, at least one of which is likely to have originated from hadronization of a bottom quark, are selected. A template technique is used to measure the asymmetry in the distribution of differences in the top quark and antiquark absolute rapidities. The measured asymmetry is A[c,y] = [0.33 +/- 0.26 (stat) +/- 0.33 (syst)]%, which is the most precise result to date. The results are compared to calculations based on the standard model and on several beyond-the-standard-model scenarios.

The Faculté Polytechnique of Mons has participated in the last three programs of artificially triggered lightning in Saint‐Privat d'Allier, France (1986, 1990, and 1991). Measurements of the vertical part of the electric field E and electric field derivative (dE/dt) only 50 m from the discharge were made in 1990 and 1991. Our data, combined with those of the Centre National d'Etudes des Télécommunications, the Centre d'Etudes Nucléaires de Grenoble, and the Ecole Centrale de Lyon, lead us to a statistical study of the electrical parameters obtained from artificially triggered discharges in Saint‐Privat d'Allier. We define the statistical distributions of these electrical parameter populations and establish some relations between them. We compare artificially triggered lightning with natural lightning and conclude that the triggered lightning strokes are very similar to the subsequent strokes of natural lightning. We also compare the Saint‐Privat d'Allier triggered lightning with the Kennedy Space Center (Florida) triggered lightning. The Kennedy Space Center is at sea level and has a high ground conductivity, while Saint‐Privat d'Allier is a mountainous country with strong resistivity. Main results are, for the current, 50% of triggered strokes are higher than 12.1 kA in Florida (statistics of 305 strokes) and 9.8 kA in Saint‐Privat d'Allier (54 strokes); for dl/dt, 50% of triggered strokes have a dl/dt higher than 91.4 kA/μs in Florida (134 strokes) and 36.8 kA/μs in Saint‐Privat d'Allier (47 strokes); 5% of the strokes have a dI/dt higher than 297.7 kA/μs in Florida. The best relation (best correlation coefficient) between dI/dt (kA/μs) and I (kA) is dI/dt = 2.6 I 1.34 in Florida (134 strokes) and dI/dt = 2.0 I 1.28 in Saint‐Privat d'Allier (47 strokes).

The amplitude of the signal collected from the PbWO4 crystals of the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter is reconstructed by a digital filtering technique. The amplitude reconstruction has been studied with test beam data recorded from a fully equipped barrel supermodule. Issues specific to data taken in the test beam are investigated, and the implementation of the method for CMS data taking is discussed.

Processing high-definition images with single-photon sensitivity acquired above 500 frames per second (fps) will certainly find ground-breaking applications in scientific and industrial domains such as nano-photonics. However, current technologies for low light imaging suffer limitations above the standard 30 fps to keep providing both excellent spatial resolution and signal-over-noise. This paper presents the state of the art on a promising way to answer this challenge, the electron bombarded CMOS (ebCMOS) detector. A large-scale ultra fast single-photon tracker camera prototype produced with an industrial partner is described. The full characterization of the back-thinned CMOS sensor is presented and a method for Point Spread Function measurements is elaborated. Then the study of the ebCMOS performance is presented for two different multi-alkali cathodes, S20 and S25. Point Spread Function measurements carried out on an optical test bench are analysed to extract the PSF of the tube by deconvolution. The resolution of the tube is studied as a function of temperature, high voltage and incident wavelength. Results are discussed for both multi-alkali cathodes as well as a Maxwellian modelization of the radial initial energy of the photo-electrons.

Performance tests of some aspects of the CMS ECAL were carried out on modules of the "barrel" sub-system in 2002 and 2003. A brief test with high energy electron beams was made in late 2003 to validate prototypes of the new Very Front End electronics. The final versions of the monitoring and cooling systems, and of the high and low voltage regulation were used in these tests. The results are consistent with the performance targets including those for noise and overall energy resolution, required to fulfil the physics programme of CMS at the LHC.

Calibration of the relative response of the individual channels of the barrel electromagnetic calorimeter of the CMS detector was accomplished, before installation, with cosmic ray muons and test beams. One fourth of the calorimeter was exposed to a beam of high energy electrons and the relative calibration of the channels, the intercalibration, was found to be reproducible to a precision of about 0.3%. Additionally, data were collected with cosmic rays for the entire ECAL barrel during the commissioning phase. By comparing the intercalibration constants obtained with the electron beam data with those from the cosmic ray data, it is demonstrated that the latter provide an intercalibration precision of 1.5% over most of the barrel ECAL. The best intercalibration precision is expected to come from the analysis of events collected in situ during the LHC operation. Using data collected with both electrons and pion beams, several aspects of the intercalibration procedures based on electrons or neutral pions were investigated.

This development is related to the design and the integration of a Monolithic Active Pixel Sensor (MAPS) into a photosensitive proximity focusing vacuum-based tube. This EBCMOS project is dedicated to the fluorescent and the bioluminescent high speed imaging. The results of the full characterization of the first prototype are presented. Comparative tests with different fluorescent dyes have been performed in biology laboratories. Preliminary conclusions on the ability of EBCMOS to perform fast single-molecule tracking will be given.

Ensuring the radiation hardness of PbWO4 crystals was one of the main priorities during the construction of the electromagnetic calorimeter of the CMS experiment at CERN. The production on an industrial scale of radiation hard crystals and their certification over a period of several years represented a difficult challenge both for CMS and for the crystal suppliers. The present article reviews the related scientific and technological problems encountered.

Further tests of lead tungstate crystal matrices made in high-energy electron beams in 1996, using new crystals, new APDs and an improved test setup confirm that an energy resolution of better than 0.6% at 100 GeV can be obtained when the longitudinal uniformity of the struck crystal is adequate. Light loss measurements under low dose irradiation are reported. It is shown that there is no loss of energy resolution after irradiation and it is demonstrated that the calibration change due to light loss can be tracked with a precision monitoring system. Successful tests with a preshower device, equipped with a silicon strip detector readout, are also described.

The performance of electromagnetic calorimeter modules made of proton-irradiated PbWO4 crystals has been studied in beam tests. The modules, similar to those used in the Endcaps of the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter (ECAL), were formed from 5×5 matrices of PbWO4 crystals, which had previously been exposed to 24 GeV protons up to integrated fluences between 2.1× 1013 and 1.3× 1014 cm−2. These correspond to the predicted charged-hadron fluences in the ECAL Endcaps at pseudorapidity η = 2.6 after about 500 fb−1 and 3000 fb−1 respectively, corresponding to the end of the LHC and High Luminosity LHC operation periods. The irradiated crystals have a lower light transmission for wavelengths corresponding to the scintillation light, and a correspondingly reduced light output. A comparison with four crystals irradiated in situ in CMS showed no significant rate dependence of hadron-induced damage. A degradation of the energy resolution and a non-linear response to electron showers are observed in damaged crystals. Direct measurements of the light output from the crystals show the amplitude decreasing and pulse becoming faster as the fluence increases. The latter is interpreted, through comparison with simulation, as a side-effect of the degradation in light transmission. The experimental results obtained can be used to estimate the long term performance of the CMS ECAL.

Using matrices of lead tungstate crystals, energy resolutions better than 0.6% at 100 GeV have been achieved in the test beam in 1995. It has been demonstrated that a lead tungstate electromagnetic calorimeter read out by avalanche photodiodes can consistently achieve the excellent energy resolutions necessary to justify its construction in the CMS detector. The performance achieved has been understood in terms of the properties of the crystals and photodetectors.

Pixel detectors employed in high energy physics aim to detect single minimum ionizing particle with micrometric positioning resolution. Monolithic CMOS sensors succeed in this task thanks to a low equivalent noise charge per pixel of around 10 to 15 e-, and a pixel pitch varying from 10 to a few 10 s of microns. Additionally, due to the possibility for integration of some data treatment in the sensor itself, readout times of 100μs have been reached for 100 kilo-pixels sensors. These aspects of CMOS sensors are attractive for applications in photon imaging. For X-rays of a few keV, the efficiency is limited to a few % due to the thin sensitive volume. For visible photons, the back-thinned version of CMOS sensor is sensitive to low intensity sources, of a few hundred photons. When a back-thinned CMOS sensor is combined with a photo-cathode, a new hybrid detector results (EBCMOS) and operates as a fast single photon imager. The first EBCMOS was produced in 2007 and demonstrated single photon counting with low dark current capability in laboratory conditions. It has been compared, in two different biological laboratories, with existing CCD-based 2D cameras for fluorescence microscopy. The current EBCMOS sensitivity and frame rate is comparable to existing EMCCDs. On-going developments aim at increasing this frame rate by, at least, an order of magnitude. We report in conclusion, the first test of a new CMOS sensor, LUCY, which reaches 1000 frames per second.

The proximity focusing Hybrid Photon Detector (HPD) concept is implemented to develop a single photon sensitive Electron Bombarded CMOS (EBCMOS). The first demonstrator has been produced by the collaboration between the EBCMOS group of IPNL, the CMOS sensor group of IPHC and the R&D department of PHOTONIS. The prototype characteristics (dark current, gain, spatial and energy resolutions) are presented. The futur developments of this type of photo detector are discussed.

A search is performed for the production of a massive W′ boson decaying to a top and a bottom quark. The data analysed correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 fb−1 collected with the CMS detector at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at $$ \sqrt{s}=8 $$ TeV. The hadronic decay products of the top quark with high Lorentz boost from the W′ boson decay are detected as a single top flavoured jet. The use of jet substructure algorithms allows the top quark jet to be distinguished from standard model QCD background. Limits on the production cross section of a right-handed W′ boson are obtained, together with constraints on the left-handed and right-handed couplings of the W′ boson to quarks. The production of a right-handed W′ boson with a mass below 2.02 TeV decaying to a hadronic final state is excluded at 95% confidence level. This mass limit increases to 2.15 TeV when both hadronic and leptonic decays are considered, and is the most stringent lower mass limit to date in the tb decay mode.

A cerium fluoride matrix composed of nine longitudinally segmented towers, approximately 25X0 long, has been tested in electron, muon and pion beams of momenta ranging from 10 to 150 GeV/c. The results are discussed in terms of light yield, electronic noise, energy and position resolution. In spite of serious imperfections in geometry and quality of some of the crystals, an electron energy resolution of ∼0.5% has been obtained with a silicon photodiode readout, for energies above 50 GeV. The performance of cerium fluoride in a beam, its high density, high light yield and fast response, radiation resistance and ruggedness make it a very good candidate for high-resolution calorimetry at future colliders. The best conditions for production of large high-quality crystals are being studied in several firms over the world. Many CeF3 crystals, 2 × 2 cm2 or 3 × 3 cm2 in cross section and up to 28 cm long, were received in 1994 from four companies, some of them with excellent light yield and radiation hardness.

We present a new Hybrid Photon Detector (HPD) called ebCMOS - for electron bombarded CMOS - sensitive to single photons with micrometer range resolution over a large area (640 kPixels) and a kHz frame rate. The CMOS which is a Monolithic Active Pixel Sensor (MAPS) is back-thinned and passivated to be able to detect low energy photoelectrons (3-4 keV). We report the first characterization results of the new prototype called LUSIPHER for ¿ Large scale Ultra-fast SIngle PHoton trackER ¿. We discuss in conclusion the potential of this detector concept for biophotonic applications.

The Compact Muon Solenoid is one of two generic detectors currently being constructed for the Large Hadron Collider at CERN foreseen to begin data taking in 2007. The electromagnetic calorimeter consists of a barrel and endcaps made of PbWO4 scintillating crystals. In the barrel, the scintillation signal is read out by Hamamatsu avalanche photodiodes, connected in parallel in a structure called a “capsule”, one for each of the 61 200 channels. We present the calibration results and performance statistics obtained for more than 5000 production capsules.

A Cerium Fluoride matrix of 3 × 3 towers with Silicon photodiode readout has been tested in electron and pion beams from 10 to 150 GeV energy. The matrix was assembled with a selection of crystals out of a total of over 40 large crystals (up to 20 cm long and 3 cm × 3 cm in cross section) from various producers. Despite less than optimal geometry and crystal quality, an energy resolution of 0.5% for energies ≥ 50 GeV has been obtained. Fast shaping amplifier prototypes were tested and their performance was found to be appropriate for operation in an LHC-like environment.

A search for massive resonances decaying to a Z boson and a photon is performed in events with a hadronically decaying Z boson candidate, separately in light-quark and b quark decay modes, identified using jet substructure and advanced b tagging techniques. Results are based on samples of proton-proton collisions collected with the CMS detector at the LHC at center-of-mass energies of 8 and 13 TeV, corresponding to integrated luminosities of 19.7 and 2.7 inverse femtobarns, respectively. The results of the search are combined with those of a similar search in the leptonic decay modes of the Z boson, based on the same data sets. Spin-0 resonances with various widths and with masses in a range between 0.2 and 3.0 TeV are considered. No significant excess is observed either in the individual analyses or the combination. The results are presented in terms of upper limits on the production cross section of such resonances and constitute the most stringent limits to date for a wide range of masses.

The inelastic hadronic cross section in proton-lead collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of 5.02 TeV is measured with the CMS detector at the LHC. The data sample, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 12.6 +/- 0.4 inverse nanobarns, has been collected with an unbiased trigger for inclusive particle production. The cross section is obtained from the measured number of proton-lead collisions with hadronic activity produced in the pseudorapidity ranges 3<abs(eta)<5 and/or -5<abs(eta)<-3, corrected for photon-induced contributions, experimental acceptance, and other instrumental effects. The inelastic cross section is measured to be sigma[inel,pPb]=2061 +/- 3 (stat) +/- 34 (syst) +/- 72 (lum) mb. Various Monte Carlo generators, commonly used in heavy ion and cosmic ray physics, are found to reproduce the data within uncertainties. The value of sigma[inel,pPb] is compatible with that expected from the proton-proton cross section at 5.02 TeV scaled up within a simple Glauber approach to account for multiple scatterings in the lead nucleus, indicating that further net nuclear corrections are small.

A measurement of the ttbar production cross section at sqrt(s)=13 TeV is presented using proton-proton collisions, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.3 inverse femtobarns, collected with the CMS detector at the LHC. Final states with one isolated charged lepton (electron or muon) and at least one jet are selected and categorized according to the accompanying jet multiplicity. From a likelihood fit to the invariant mass distribution of the isolated lepton and a jet identified as coming from the hadronization of a bottom quark, the cross section is measured to be sigma(ttbar)= 835 +/- 3 (stat) +/- 23 (syst) +/- 23 (lum) pb, in agreement with the standard model prediction. Using the expected dependence of the cross section on the pole mass of the top quark (m[t]), the value of m[t] is found to be 172.7+2.4-2.7 GeV.

The Compact Muon Solenoid is one of two generic detectors currently being constructed for the Large Hadron Collider at CERN foreseen to begin data taking in 2007. The electromagnetic calorimeter consists of a barrel and endcaps. These are made of PbWO4 scintillating crystals. In the barrel, the scintillation signal is read out by Hamamatsu avalanche photodiodes, connected in parallel in a structure called a “capsule”. Each of the 61,200 channels must be equipped with a capsule, the reliability of which must be assured since they will be inaccessible during the life of the experiment. The capsule production is now finished. We present the final calibration and performance statistics.

Les travaux de cette these ont pour fil conducteur la caracterisation et l'amelioration de detecteurs en physique des hautes energies, plus particulierement l'etude des systemes de photodetection. La premiere partie presente les experimentations concernant les systemes de detection au sein meme de l'Institut de Physique Nucleaire de Lyon ainsi qu'au CERN : les photosenseurs en general, avec un developpement particulier sur les photodiodes a avalanche, les chambres a derive ainsi que la reunion entre ce detecteur de traces et la calorimetrie, illustree par une experience realisee sur un banc cosmique developpe a l'Institut. La deuxieme partie relate les travaux dans l'experience L3 (du LEP au CERN). Elle a consiste a tester et installer un detecteur supplementaire (Active Lead Rings) destine a ameliorer la couverture angulaire de L3 et a affiner ainsi la physique du photon unique, dans le but de confirmer le nombre de familles de neutrinos legers. La troisieme partie developpe l'implication de l'Institut dans les choix technologiques de realisation du calorimetre electromagnetique du detecteur Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) au CERN, dans le cadre de notre participation au programme Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Elle detaille les travaux realises lors de la lourde phase de construction de CMS. La quatrieme partie presente l'activite en matiere d'imagerie medicale : programme de recherche et developpement sur les matrices de photodiodes a avalanche et les cristaux associes, dans l'optique de la construction de microtomographes a emission de positons.