Large Area Fast Timing Photon Sensors for Cherenkov Detectors in Neutrino Physics and Particle Identification

切伦科夫光是当带电粒子以比光速更快的速度穿过材料时发出的。这种微弱的光源提供了关于粒子的路径和速度的宝贵信息。因此，使用切伦科夫光的探测器系统已经成为许多科学发现的关键实验工具，从天文学到中微子物理学，再到核物理学家和粒子物理学家对亚原子世界的详细了解。科学认识的进步与下一代实验仪器发展的进步齐头并进。在中微子物理领域，一个大型的地下探测器计划在这十年内安装在约克郡的博尔比地下实验室。对于我们理解夸克和胶子共同作用形成我们周围的核子和原子核的方式，下一步至关重要的一步将由计划中的美国电子离子对撞机完成。这两个项目都将依靠下一代切伦科夫探测器来实现它们的科学潜力。从切伦科夫光中检测微弱信号并从切伦科夫光中提取最大量的信息需要可见光光子传感器覆盖大面积，同时还能提供非常好的位置和时间分辨率。他们必须在充满挑战的环境中高效运作。最近开发了一种基于大型微通道板的新设备LAPPD，并可用于评估。该项目将详细研究该设备的特性和性能，并根据下一代切伦科夫探测器对基础物理研究的挑战性要求评估其性能。

Cherenkov light is emitted when a charged particle is traversing a material faster then the speed of light in this material. This faint source of light provides invaluable information on the particle, its path and speed. As such, detector systems using Cherenkov light have been crucial experimental tools for many scientific discoveries, from Astronomy to neutrino physics to the detailed understanding of the subatomic world explored by nuclear and particle physicists.Advances in scientific understanding go hand in hand with advances in the development of instrumentation for the next generation of experiments. In the field of neutrino physics, a large underground detector is planned to be installed in this decade in the Boulby Underground Laboratory in Yorkshire. A crucial next step for our understanding of the ways quarks and gluons act together to form the nucleons and nuclei around us will be made by the planned Electron Ion Collider in the USA. Both project will rely on the next generation of Cherenkov detectors to fulfil their science potential.The detection of the faint signal form Cherenkov light and extraction of the maximum amount of information from this source requires visible light photon sensors covering large area while still providing a very good position and time resolution. They have to operate efficiently in challenging circumstances. A new device based on Micro-Channel plates in a large tile, the LAPPD, has been recently developed and has become available for evaluation. This project will study the properties and performance of this device in detail and evaluate its performance with respect to the challenging demands of the next generation of Cherenkov detectors for fundamental physics research.