1. LIP’s interest in SHiP
P. Fonte

2. LIP-Laboratory of Instrumentation and high-energy Particle physics(
Congregates the bulk of the HEP activities in Portugal (Lisbon, Coimbra, Braga)

3. Past and present activities
LIP-Laboratory of Instrumentation and high-energy Particle physics (
Past and present activities
High-energy physics: ATLAS, CMS, COMPASS, CPLEAR, DELPHI, HADES, Hera-b, n-TOF, NA38, NA50, NA51
Astroparticles: AMS, AUGER, ESA, GAW, SNO, LUX, air scintillation studies
Computation: ATLAS Grid, ATLAS TDAQ, e-IRGSP2, EELA, GEE, int.eu.grid, LCG
Medical Physics: PET-mammography, RPC-PET, SPECT, simulation, dosimetry
Detector development: active gaseous scintillators, tRPCs, liquefied noble gases, detector physics
in Coimbra:
Detector lab: 1 physicist, 1 electrical engin., 2 techn.
Well equipped mechanical workshop: 2 engin., 2 techn.
4 staff researchers,1 in RPC group
5-axis milling machine
CNC lathe with off-axis motorized tools

4. First 50ps timing RPCs (9 cm2)
4 x 0.3 mm gaps
[ Fonte 2000] 3
Aluminum
Glass
-HV
Resolution of the reference counter
= % for MIPs
(75%/gap)
(optimum operating point  1% of discharges)

5. Active area = 10 cm160 cm = 0.16 m2 (400 cm2/electronic channel)
Large area counter
Active area = 10 cm160 cm = 0.16 m2 (400 cm2/electronic channel)
5 cm
4 timing
channels
1,6 m HV
Top view
Cross section
Ordinary 3 mm “window glass”
Copper
strips
[Blanco 2001]

6. Efficiency and time resolution
Large area counter
Efficiency and time resolution
93%
94%
95%
96%
97%
98%
99%
100%
-80
-70
-60
-50
-40
-30
-20
-10 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Time efficiency
Strip A
Strip B
Strips A+B
 = 95 to 98 %
Center of the trigger region along the strips (cm)
[Blanco 2001] 40 50 60 70 80 90
100
-80
-70
-60
-50
-40
-30
-20
-10 10 20 30
Time resolution (ps )
 = 50 to 75 ps
Center of the trigger region along the strips (cm)
No degradation when the area/channel was doubled (800 cm2/channel)

7. HADES RPC TOF Wall

8. Heat-tolerant materials
HADES cells
0.27 mm  4 gaps
minimum for good efficiency
Aluminum and glass 2mm electrods
minimize amount of glass for maximum rate capability
try to keep good mechanics
Heat-tolerant materials
Fully shielded
Spring-loaded pressure plate
Aluminium
Glass
HV & readout in
the center

9. HADES Au-Au RPC time resolution

10. HADES PID plot
Sub-threshold produced K- clearly visible: robust multihit performance

11. Auger observatory Area ~3000 km2 telescope building “Los Leones”
LIDAR station
communication tower
Cerenkov tank
(1/1600) 11

12. Field experience@Malargüe – 1st MARTA station
2 RPC units

13. RPC & gas volume
1250 mm
1550 mm

14. Readout: 64 external pads (or something else)

15. La carrosserie en place
Cost estimate in mass production (3200m2): 1k€/m2
with slow electronics (MAROC chip)

16. Whereabouts

17. The NEULAND RPC neutron TOF detector prototype
Symmetric MRPCs with
4 or 10 gaps
3 mm thick glass
(for neutrons to have something to interact with)
Not optimal for timing
[J.Mahado 2013]
Still in use today as a cosmic ray telescope

18. The NEULAND RPC neutron TOF detector prototype
[J.Mahado 2013]

19. The HADES RPC Group The NEULAND RPC team Collaborators GSI D.Gonzalez
W.Koenig
M.Traxler
G. Kornakov
LIP
A.Blanco
N.Carolino
O.Cunha
P.Fonte
L.Lopes
A.Pereira
C.Silva
C.C.Sousa
USC
D.Belver
P.Cabanelas E.Castro J.A.Garzón M.Zapata
IFIC-Valencia
J.Diaz
A.Gil
The NEULAND RPC team
LIP
A.Blanco
N.Carolino
P.Fonte
L.Lopes
A.Pereira
Univ. Lisboa
D.Galaviz
A. Henriques
P. Teubig
P. Velho

20. The MARTA team @ AUGER Collaborators
CBPF - Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas, Brazil
FZU - Institute of Physics, Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic
IFSC / USP - Instituto de Física de S. Carlos, Universidade de S. Paulo, Brazil
LIP - Laboratório de Instrumentação e Partículas, Portugal
UNICAMP - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Brazil
UFRJ - Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Universitá di Roma II, “Tor Vergata”, Italy
USC - Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain

21. Summary
Timing RPCs were, are and will be used in many HEP experiments: the modern high-performance, large area TOF technology.
Many such implementations are ALICE-TOF derived.
The low-cost environmentally friendly (low gas flow) RPC construction technology developed for remote standalone stations may be applied to the SHiP timing detector.
80 ps resolution already proven in large area prototypes, however not optimized for MIPs.
This may revolutionize costwise the construction of large, low-rate, low-multiplicity, TOF detectors, opening way for even larger TOF detectors.