[en] The CaLIPSO project aims to develop a high precision brain-scanning PET device with time-of-flight capability. The proposed device uses an innovative liquid, the TriMethyl Bismuth, as the detection medium. It detects simultaneously the ionization and optical signals from the 511 keV gamma conversion. In this paper we present the design, the Monte Carlo simulation, and the tests results for the CaLIPSO optical prototype. In this prototype we demonstrated the ability to detect efficiently the low number of the optical photons produced by the relativistic electron from the gamma conversion through the Cherenkov effect. The time resolution of the current prototype is limited by the moderate time transition spread of the PMT, but should be improved to the level better than 100 ps (FWHM) by using micro-channel-plate PMT according to the Geant 4 simulation.

[en] Micromegas detectors, part of the Micro-Pattern Gaseous Detectors (MPGD) family, are used in a very wide range of applications in the High Energy Physics community but also in astroparticle and neutrino physics. In most of the Micromegas applications the design of the detector vessel and the readout plane is extremely coupled. A way of dissociating these two components would be by separating the amplification structure and the detector volume from the readout plane and electronics. This is achieved with the so called piggyback Micromegas detectors. They open up new possibilities of applications in terms of adaptability to new electronics. In particular piggyback resistive Micromegas can be easily coupled to modern pixel array electronic ASICs. First tests have been carried out with a Medipix chip where the protection of the resistive layer has been proved. The results of very recent tests coupling piggyback Micromegas with the readout module of Caliste are presented. Caliste is a high performance spectro-imager with event time-tagging capability, able to detect photons between 2 keV and 250 keV in the context of a spatial micro spectro-imaging polarimetrer. In the current application, with the Piggyback Micromegas, we use the readout module only as the sensitive detector. We benefit of the good spatial resolution thanks to the high density readout pixels (~600 μm pixel pitch), to the low noise, to the low power and to the radiation hard integrated front-end IDEF-X electronics. The advantage of such a device is to have a high gain, low noise, low threshold, and robust detector operating at room temperature. This would be very attractive for spatial applications, for instance X-ray polarisation

[en] We built and commissioned a new type of Compton polarimeter to measure the electron beam polarization at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Virginia, USA). The heart of this polarimeter is a high-finesse monolithic Fabry-Perot cavity. Its purpose is to amplify a primary 300 mW laser beam in order to improve the signal to noise ratio of the polarimeter. It is the first time that a high-finesse Fabry-Perot cavity is enclosed in the vacuum of a particle accelerator to monitor the beam polarization by Compton polarimetry. The measured finesse and amplification gain of the cavity are F=26000 and G=7300. The electron beam crosses this high-power photon source at an angle of 23 mrad in the middle of the cavity where the photon beam power density is estimated to be 0.85MW/cm2. We have used this facility during the HAPPEX experiment (April-July 1999) and we give a preliminary measurement of Compton scattering asymmetry