Pieter Everaerts

A controlled-voltage Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) can be used to block the re-injection of positive ions in large volume Time Projection Chambers (TPC). With proper choice of geometry, gas filling and external fields, good electron transmission can be obtained at very low GEM voltages; pulsed ion gating is then much easier than with conventional wire grids, requiring hundreds of volts. Gating schemes suited for the TPC detector planned for the International Linear Collider detector are described. The possibility of GEM-based DC-operated ion filters, exploiting the difference in diffusion properties of ions and electrons, is also discussed.

Abstract The CMS experiment at the CERN LHC will be upgraded to accommodate the 5-fold increase in the instantaneous luminosity expected at the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) [1]. Concomitant with this increase will be an increase in the number of interactions in each bunch crossing and a significant increase in the total ionising dose and fluence. One part of this upgrade is the replacement of the current endcap calorimeters with a high granularity sampling calorimeter equipped with silicon sensors, designed to manage the high collision rates [2]. As part of the development of this calorimeter, a series of beam tests have been conducted with different sampling configurations using prototype segmented silicon detectors. In the most recent of these tests, conducted in late 2018 at the CERN SPS, the performance of a prototype calorimeter equipped with ≈12,000 channels of silicon sensors was studied with beams of high-energy electrons, pions and muons. This paper describes the custom-built scalable data acquisition system that was built with readily available FPGA mezzanines and low-cost Raspberry Pi computers.

The behavior of Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) detectors in high-rate is investigated. We also look at how to reduce the ion feedback in GEMs.

The upgrade of the CMS detector for the high luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) will include gas electron multiplier (GEM) detectors in the end-cap muon spectrometer. Due to the limited supply of large area GEM detectors, the Korean CMS (KCMS) collaboration had formed a consortium with Mecaro Co., Ltd. to serve as a supplier of GEM foils with area of approximately 0.6 m2. The consortium has developed a double-mask etching technique for production of these large-sized GEM foils. This article describes the production, quality control, and quality assessment (QA/QC) procedures and the mass production status for the GEM foils. Validation procedures indicate that the structure of the Korean foils are in the designed range. Detectors employing the Korean foils satisfy the requirements of the HL-LHC in terms of the effective gain, response uniformity, rate capability, discharge probability, and hardness against discharges. No aging phenomena were observed with a charge collection of 82 mC cm−2. Mass production of KCMS GEM foils is currently in progress.

Abstract The Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) detectors of the GE1/1 station of the CMS experiment have been operated in the CMS magnetic field for the first time on the 7 th of October 2021. During the magnetic field ramps, several discharge phenomena were observed, leading to instability in the GEM High Voltage (HV) power system. In order to reproduce the behavior, it was decided to conduct a dedicated test at the CERN North Area with the Goliath magnet, using four GE1/1 spare chambers. The test consisted in studying the characteristics of discharge events that occurred in different detector configurations and external conditions. Multiple magnetic field ramps were performed in sequence: patterns in the evolution of the discharge rates were observed with these data. The goal of this test is the understanding of the experimental conditions inducing discharges and short circuits in a GEM foil. The results of this test lead to the development of procedure for the optimal operation and performance of GEM detectors in the CMS experiment during the magnet ramps. Another important result is the estimation of the probability of short circuit generation, at 68 % confidence level, p short HV OFF = 0.42 -0.35 +0.94 % with detector HV OFF and p short HV OFF < 0.49% with the HV ON. These numbers are specific for the detectors used during this test, but they provide a first quantitative indication on the phenomenon, and a point of comparison for future studies adopting the same procedure.

During the latter months of 2006 and the first half of 2007, the CMS Tracker was assembled and operated at the Tracker Integration Facility at CERN. During this period the performance of the tracker at trigger rates up to 100 kHz was assessed, and a source of high occupancy events was uncovered, diagnosed, and mitigated.

Using the data collected during Run I of LHC operation the CMS Collaboration performed multiple analyses searching for the direct electroweak production of supersymmetric particles in proton-proton collisions. Different decay modes of the gauginos and sleptons were considered, through intermediate vector bosons or Higgs bosons, or directly to leptons. A set of complementary searches were designed to target these different decays. None of these searches shows any indication for physics beyond the standard model.

During the latter months of 2006 and the first half of 2007, the CMS Tracker was assembled and operated at the Tracker Integration Facility in Building 186 at CERN. At this time, several dedicated studies were carried out to validate the performance of the tracker after assembly, testing general noise performance, looking at a specific problem showing up for part of the tracker [1], and also looking at the performance at high acquisition rates [2]. We report on the the results of these studies and their consequences for operation of the Tracker at the experiment. I. THE CMS SILICON STRIP TRACKER. With its 210 m of silicon, 5.4 m length, 2.4 m diameter and 9.6 million readout channels, the CMS strip tracker is clearly the largest and most complicated silicon detector ever built. It consists of 4 main parts: the endcaps (TEC), the inner barrel (TIB), the outer Barrel (TOB) and the inner disks (TID). All together 15148 modules are distributed amongst these 4 systems. Because of its size and complexity, the collaboration paid meticulous attention to quality control and testing all the way through construction. However, some effects could not be detected during the construction and the final assembly of the subdetectors and the first large-scale tests were needed to point them out. This paper discusses the investigations into the cause of these effects as well as the ramifications for operations at the LHC.

As part of its HL-LHC upgrade program, the CMS Collaboration is developing a High Granularity Calorimeter (CE) to replace the existing endcap calorimeters. The CE is a sampling calorimeter with unprecedented transverse and longitudinal readout for both electromagnetic (CE-E) and hadronic (CE-H) compartments. The calorimeter will be built with $\sim$30,000 hexagonal silicon modules. Prototype modules have been constructed with 6-inch hexagonal silicon sensors with cell areas of 1.1~$cm^2$, and the SKIROC2-CMS readout ASIC. Beam tests of different sampling configurations were conducted with the prototype modules at DESY and CERN in 2017 and 2018. This paper describes the construction and commissioning of the CE calorimeter prototype, the silicon modules used in the construction, their basic performance, and the methods used for their calibration.