The application of SiPMs in the fluorescence telescope FAMOUS and the Aachen Muon Detector

Abstract

After huge advancements in SiPM technology made in the last years, they are perfect sensors for light detection in astroparticle physics experiments. They are very robust devices and have an equal or higher photon detection efficiency than conventional photomultiplier tubes (PMTs). In addition, SiPMs can be precisely calibrated exploiting their single photon resolution. We study their performance in various applications. FAMOUS (First Auger Multi-pixel photon counter camera for the Observation of Ultra-highenergy air Showers) is a fluorescence telescope with a 61-pixel camera made of SiPMs. It is a small sized telescope using a Fresnel lens as the focusing element. The Aachen Muon Detector (AMD) is a scintillator detector designed to improve current experiments through a precise determination of the muon content in air-showers. The light produced in scintillating tiles is collected by wavelength-shifting fibers. Through clear fibers the light is guided on one SiPM per tile.35th International Cosmic Ray Conference

Study in the optical performance of plastic scintillator with WLS fiber

“…Therefore, a plastic scintillator (PS) with a wavelength-shifted fiber and SiPM is preferentially applied to many experiments as veto systems. Aachen Muon Detector selected 30 cm × 30 cm × 0.5 cm PS module and the coupling of WLS fiber and SiPM embedded in plastic scintillator [8]. A strip 170 cm long and 17 cm wide, and 1 cm thick, is used in the anti-coincidence detector of the Large Area Telescope, which requires flexible clear fiber cables up to 1.5 m long to deliver generated light to photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) [9]; OPERA TT [10] will be re-used in JUNO for cosmic muon tracking, where its basic module is composed of 64 scintillator strips with the size of 6.86 m long, 10.6 mm thick, 26.3 mm wide, where a wavelength shifting fiber embedded in the middle, and another 40 cm space is required at each end to couple the optical fiber to the PMT.…”

Fluorescence light detection with the FAMOUS telescope

“…One example is the the First Auger Multi-pixel photon counter camera for the Observation of Ultra-high-energy air-Showers (FAMOUS) designed and built by the III. Physikalisches Institut A, RWTH Aachen University in Germany [5,6,7].…”