The 8/spl pi/LP project: a 4/spl pi/ light charged particle detection array at LNL

Abstract

A 4/spl pi/ detection system sensitive to light charged particles is being developed at the Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro (LNL) for the study of the reaction mechanisms produced in heavy ion collisions at energies up to 20 AMeV. The 8/spl pi/LP apparatus is a telescope assembly characterized by large solid angle (90% of 4/spl pi/) and high granularity (262 modules). Particle identification at low energy is obtained by combining /spl Delta/E-E, TOF and PSD techniques. Each telescope is made of a 300 /spl mu/m passivated silicon detector and a 15 mm (or 5 mm) CsI(Tl) crystal with photodiode readout. Thresholds for particle identification range from 1 MeV for protons and 3 MeV for alpha particles to about 2-3 AMeV for C ions. A low-cost trigger and readout bus system has been developed to cope with the large number of parameters and the high counting rate. The system will be fully operational for experiments in the summer of 1997.