Simulation of fast timing scintillator detectors for time-of-flight measurements with heavy ion beams

The time-of-flight (TOF) for nuclear mass measurements relies on precise and

accurate timing of the TOF of heavy ion beams. One effective method of fast

timing is accomplished through a radiation detector based on a plastic scin-

tillator to produce visible photons when interacting with beam ions, and a

photomultiplier tube (PMT) to produce an electric pulse. Several factors can

affect the response of the detectors, such as the dependence on the path taken

by emitted photons or the signal amplitude. These variables must be accounted

for in order to achieve resolution of 10 picoseconds or better. By using Geant4,

we have modeled the timing detectors used for TOF experiments with the S800

spectrometer at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams.[1] We use the simulation

to analyze the effect on the timing response of the position of interaction with

beam ions. Data will be compared to real data to confirm the accuracy of the

simulation.

References

[1] Kailong Wang et al. “Plastic scintillation detectors for time-of-flight mass

measurements”. In: Nucl. Instrum. Meth. A 974 (2020), p. 164199. doi:

10.1016/j.nima.2020.164199. arXiv: 2005.02500 [physics.ins-det]