[en] The first sealed TOM Hybrid Photon Detector (HPD) with 10-in. diameter has been fabricated and successfully tested at CERN. This HPD has a spherical entrance window and a bialkali photocathode. The fountain focusing optics produces a demagnified image (D=4) on the round segmented silicon sensor. The signals of the 2048 cells are read out through analog front-end electronics encapsulated in the vacuum envelope. We report on the design, fabrication technique and the experimental results obtained with laboratory test benches. The large TOM HPD is a prototype tube developed for the CLUE cosmic ray experiment. The final tubes, now under development, will be equipped with a solar-blind Rb₂Te photocathode and self triggering front-end electronics

[en] A round 10-in. diameter Hybrid Photodiode (HPD) with spherical entrance window is under development for Cherenkov imaging applications in cosmic ray astronomy. The HPD adopts the fountain focusing electron optics, which, as already demonstrated in the 5 inch Pad HPD, allows for a linear demagnification of the image over practically the full tube diameter. Self-triggering front-end electronics providing also sparse readout capability, has been tested. High-efficiency Rb₂Te cathodes have been produced on a UV extended borosilicate glass windows with very thin conductive underlayers of Indium Tin Oxide. We report on the design of the 10-in. HPD, the fabrication procedure and first tests of a 5-in. HPD with Rb₂Te photocathode and 2048 channels

[en] We discuss the imaging properties of Hybrid Photon Detectors (HPDs) in the framework of an Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescope experiment. We present also some preliminary results on Night Sky Background measurements, made with an HPD located in the focal plane of a single CLUE telescope

[en] We propose to use a new large photocathodic area UV Rb₂Te HPD developed at CERN (TOM collaboration) as a detector well suited for IACT experiments. Some aspects of UV atmospheric transmission are presented

[en] We present the first Rb₂Te 5 in. HPD test results in outside vacuum configuration. We are studying the properties of this new photodetector in normal working condition, in order to characterize its properties for Imaging Air Cherenkov Experiment

[en] We propose a scalable line of liquid argon TPC detectors based on a three dimensional cubic frame array immersed in a common liquid argon volume. The paper describes general lines, main construction criteria, crucial points, parameters and required preliminary R and D activities for the construction of detectors with active mass ranging from 200 ton to 100 kTon. Such detectors appear as unique for supernova detection, proton decay, LBL neutrino physics and other astropaticle physics applications

[en] A silicon microstrip vertex detector is under construction for the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF). The vertex detector, which contains close to 40000 individual strips, will be read out with a full custom VLSI circuit, the SVX chip, developed for this application. This paper describes the integration of this circuit into a full front end readout system. Problems of noise, packaging, signal and power distribution, control and readout, testing, and quality control are discussed. Results are presented on the operation of a prototype system including silicon strips

[en] Fabry-Perot cavities have many different applications as scientific instruments. In the gravitational waves research field they are extensively used to frequency stabilize lasers and to measure very small distance variations. In the present Letter a method to evaluate from the transmitted power only the relative speed and position of the mirrors of a cavity, having finesse F>40, is described. A displacement spectral sensitivity of the order of about 3x10^-10 m/Hz^-1/2 at 10 Hz is obtained with the cavity of the low frequency facility

[en] The Intermediate Silicon Layers detector (ISL) is a large radius silicon tracker, installed in the CDF detector for the RUN II of the Tevatron Collider. With almost 4 m² of double-sided silicon sensors and 300,000 electronic channels it represents the biggest system of this kind ever built. The construction and installation phases, the performed quality assurance tests as well as the problems encountered are reviewed. RUN II of the Tevatron officially started on March 1st, 2001. Although the CDF silicon system is still being commissioned, results on the performance of the ISL detector obtained using the first data are presented

[en] The reduction of thermal noise is a fundamental issue for the improvement of future gravitational wave antennas. The main purpose of the Low Frequency Facility (LFF) is to study pendulum thermal noise in the region of 10 Hz. Data at the LFF has been taking since the beginning of 2003 and has been analyzed in order to thoroughly understand the region around 10 Hz. Above 7 Hz, the displacement noise floor is at the level of 10^-14 m/√Hz, decreasing with frequency approximately as 1/ν. Seismic noise contamination is not observed above a few Hz