Readout Electronics Prototype of TOF Detectors in CEE of HIRFL

In the Cooling storage ring External-target Experiment (CEE) in heavy ion research facility in Lanzhou (HIRFL), multigap resistive plate chambers (MRPCs) detectors are used for high-precision time-of-flight (TOF) measurement to identify the scattered particles after the ion beam hits the target. Regarding the external TOF (eTOF) and 2/3 internal TOF (iTOF) detectors, a ~25-ps rms time precision is required for the readout electronics, whereas for the other 1/3 iTOF detectors, a ~10-ps rms precision is required. A readout electronics prototype was designed, including the front-end electronics (FEE) based on analog signal amplification, discrimination, and the time-to-digital module (TDM), based on field-programmable gate array (FPGA) time-to-digital converter (TDC), to achieve high-precision time measurement. PreAmplifier-DIscriminator (PADI) is used in the design of the FEE, while an FPGA TDC, based on tapped delay line (TDL) structure, with a time precision performance better than 5-ps rms, is implemented in the TDM, as well as the trigger matching circuit and other control logic. The performance of the whole system was tested under different input signal charges and the results indicated that the time precision is better than 10-ps rms, which satisfies the application requirements.