[en] The electromagnetic calorimeter of the CMS experiment at CERN's Large Hadron Collider will use 122 400 Avalanche Photodiodes from Hamamatsu Photonics. The design of this APD type is the result of a long R and D program performed by Hamamatsu Photonics and the CMS collaboration. The APD parameters including the behavior under irradiation are discussed in view of our application

[en] The photo detectors of the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter have to operate in a rather hostile environment, in a strong magnetic field of 4 T and under unprecedented radiation levels. Avalanche Photo Diodes (APDs) have been chosen to detect the scintillation light of the 62,000 lead tungstate crystals in the barrel part of the calorimeter. After a 6 year long R and D work Hamamatsu Photonics produces APDs with a structure that is basically radiation hard. Only a few percent of the delivered APDs are weak due to defects at the surface caused by dust particles in the production process. Since a reliability of 99.9% is required, a method to detect weak APDs before they are built into the detector had to be developed. The described screening method is a combination of ⁶⁰Co irradiations and annealing under bias of all APDs and irradiations with hadrons on a sampling basis

[en] Avalanche Photodiodes (APDs) with improved characteristics are being developed by Hamamatsu Photonics for the electromagnetic calorimeter of the CMS experiment. More than 30 prototypes have been made and investigated during the last 3 years in a development program, that showed significant progress. The parameters of the most recent APDs including the long-term stability and the effect of a high radiation level with a neutron fluence of 2x10¹³ n/cm² have been studied and are presented

[en] We characterized the spectral response of CdTe sensors with different pixel sizes – namely 75, 150 and 300 $\mathrm{\mu }$m – bonded to the latest generation IBEX single photon counting ASIC developed at DECTRIS, to detect monochromatic X-ray energy in the range 10–60 keV. We present a comparison of pulse height spectra recorded for several energies, showing the dependence on the pixel size of the non-trivial atomic fluorescence and charge sharing effects that affect the detector response. The extracted energy resolution, in terms of full width at half maximum or FWHM, ranges from 1.5 to 4 keV according to the pixel size and chip configuration. We devoted a careful analysis to the Quantum Efficiency and to the Spectral Efficiency — a newly-introduced measure that quantifies the impact of fluorescence and escape phenomena on the spectrum integrity in high-$Z$ material based detectors. We then investigated the influence of the photon flux on the aforementioned quantities up to $180\cdot 10$⁶ cts/s/mm² and $50\cdot 10$⁶ cts/s/mm² for the 150 $\mathrm{\mu }$m and 300 $\mathrm{\mu }$m pixel case, respectively. Finally, we complemented the experimental data with analytical and with Monte Carlo simulations – taking into account the stochastic nature of atomic fluorescence – with an excellent agreement.

[en] The Hamamatsu Photonics S8148 large area Avalanche Photo Diodes (APD) were designed for the crystal electromagnetic calorimeter of the CMS setup at LHC in a close collaboration of Hamamatsu Photonics and CMS APD group (PSI, Northeastern University and University of Minnesota). All essential parameters of these devices are controlled by the producer and are fairly stable during the mass production, except the radiation hardness. To insure 99.9% reliability of APDs in the radiation hard environment of LHC, the CMS APD group had to invent a dedicated screening procedure. The details of this procedure and some results of the screening are discussed

[en] Avalanche Photodiodes (APD) with improved characteristics were developed by Hamamatsu Photonics for the Electromagnetic Calorimeter of the CMS experiment. This report presents measurements of the latest generation of APDs, which are capable to operate at high gains (∼2000)

[en] We describe the design, construction and performance of the PIBETA detector built for the precise measurement of the branching ratio of pion beta decay, π⁺→π⁰e⁺ν_e, at the Paul Scherrer Institute. The central part of the detector is a 240-module spherical pure CsI calorimeter covering ∼3π sr solid angle. The calorimeter is supplemented with an active collimator/beam degrader system, an active segmented plastic target, a pair of low-mass cylindrical wire chambers and a 20-element cylindrical plastic scintillator hodoscope. The whole detector system is housed inside a temperature-controlled lead brick enclosure, which in turn is lined with cosmic muon plastic veto counters. Commissioning and calibration data were taken during two 3-month beam periods in 1999/2000 with π⁺ stopping rates between 1.3·10³ π⁺/s and 1.3·10⁶ π⁺/s. We examine the timing, energy and angular detector resolution for photons, positrons and protons in the energy range of 5-150 MeV, as well as the response of the detector to cosmic muons. We illustrate the detector signatures for the assorted rare pion and muon decays and their associated backgrounds

[en] Specially developed avalanche photodiodes (APDs) will be used to measure the light from the 61,200 lead tungstate crystals in the barrel part of the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter. To ensure the reliability over the lifetime of the detector, every APD is screened by irradiation and burn-in before it is accepted for CMS. As part of the establishment of the screening procedure and to determine its effectiveness, a large number of APDs were screened twice. The results of these tests suggest that the required reliability will be achieved

[en] Avalanche Photodiodes (APDs) are now out of their infancy and are used in large numbers in the electromagnetic calorimeter of CMS where they have to stand the extremely hostile environment of LHC. This type--with smaller sensitive area and arranged in monolithic arrays--is an excellent candidate for the read out of scintillating crystals in medical imaging and a PET scanner operates already successfully since more than 3 years. We present the properties of the device used in CMS and possible improvements of the structure, which could open the door for new applications. Operating APDs at low temperatures or in Geiger mode will allow single photon counting and in future they could replace photomultiplier tubes

[en] The avalanche photodiodes, developed by Hamamatsu Photonics in collaboration with CMS, which are to be used to read out the lead tungstate crystals in the barrel part of the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter, are described. The procedures taken to ensure their long-term reliability in the radiation environment expected in CMS are outlined, as well as the studies made to verify the very high reliability required