Development of the Focal Plane Detection System for the Future Gas-Filled Separator at the Cyclotron Institute

A focal plane detection system is being developed for use with the gas-filled separator previously known as SASSYER (Small Angle Separator System at Yale for Evaporation Residues) that will be installed at the Cyclotron Institute at Texas A{\&}M University. This system will be used to study heavy (Z $\ge $ 90) elements and features two 60x40 strip double-sided silicon detectors (DSSDs) and accompanying multiplexing read-out electronics. The DSSDs cover an area of 120x40 mm$^{2}$ and are read-out by fourteen 16-channel multiplexers (Mesytec MUX-16) that perform the function of a preamplifier, shaper, and leading-edge discriminator in one unit. The multiplexers are controlled by four ``MUX drivers,'' each of which serves as a signal bus for multiple MUX-16 boards. The system allows a single 16-channel ADC to read the combined 200 strips of both DSSDs. A four peak source composed of $^{148}$Gd, $^{239}$Pu, $^{241}$Am, and $^{244}$Cm was used to characterize the performance of the system, with a preliminary energy resolution of $\sim$ 60 keV measured for the $^{241}$Am alphas. This contribution will discuss the work performed in assembly of the test setup, optimization and performance check of the multiplexers, and the preliminary energy and position data collected with the $\alpha $-source.