Instrumentation and Detectors
A major remaining challenge for $Nb_3Sn$ high field magnets is their training due to random temperature variations in the coils. The main objective of our research is to reduce or eliminate it by finding novel impregnation materials with…
Driven by life-science applications, mega-electron-volt Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope (MeV-STEM) has been proposed to image thick biological samples. The high penetration of inelastic scattering signals of MeV electrons could…
Increasing the efficiency and reducing the footprint of on-chip photodetectors enables dense optical interconnects for emerging computational and sensing applications. Avalanche photodetectors (APD) are currently the dominating on-chip…
Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a Nuclear Medicine technique that creates images that allow the study of metabolic activity and organ function using radiopharmaceuticals. Continuous improvement of scintillation detectors for radiation…
Environmental neutrons are a source of background for rare event searches (e.g., dark matter direct detection and neutrinoless double beta decay experiments) taking place in deep underground laboratories. The overwhelming majority of these…
In this work, we present novel Machine Learning and Differentiable Programming enhanced calibration techniques used to improve the energy resolution of the Silicon Drift Detectors (SDDs) of the VIP-2 underground experiment at the Gran Sasso…
High spatial resolution of ultracold neutron (UCN) measurement is of growing interest to UCN experiments such as UCN spectrometers, UCN polarimeters, quantum physics of UCNs, and quantum gravity. Here we utilize physics-informed deep…
We studied the effect of the NbN/Au contact on the sensitivities of a NbN hot electron bolometer (HEB) mixer by measuring the double sideband (DSB) receiver noise temperature (T_rec_DSB) at three local oscillator frequencies of 1.6, 2.5 and…
Fabrication of superconducting nanomechanical resonators for quantum research, detectors and devices traditionally relies on a lithographic process, resulting in oscillators with sharp edges and a suspended length limited to a few 100…
Detection of low-energy nuclear recoil events plays a central role in searches for particle dark matter interactions with atomic matter and studies of coherent neutrino scatters. Precise nuclear recoil calibration data allow the responses…
We present the recent development of a lightweight detector capable of accurate spatial, timing, and amplitude resolution of charged particles. The technology is based on double-sided double-metal p+\,--\,n\,--\,n+ micro-strip silicon…
We recently demonstrated a 1$^{\textrm{st}}$-order axial gradiometer SQUID system, which is operated in a liquid He dewar with negligible noise contribution. The achieved close to SQUID-limited measured coupled energy sensitivity…
Maintaining the required performance of the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter (ECAL) barrel at the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) requires the replacement of the entire on-detector electronics. 12240 new very front end (VFE)…
This contribution presents a pragmatic approach to read-out electronics for drift chambers used in particle physics experiments, specifically for the R3B experiment at GSI. The design uses discrete miniature SMD components and LVDS inputs…
We describe a helium source cell for use in cryogenic experiments that is hermetically sealed $in$ $situ$ on the cold plate of a cryostat. The source cell is filled with helium gas at room temperature and subsequently sealed using a cold…
One of the critical aspects for the accurate determination of neutron capture cross sections when combining time-of-flight and total energy detector techniques is the characterization and control of systematic uncertainties associated to…
We report on a highly selective experimental setup for particle-$\gamma$ coincidence experiments at the Super-Enge Split-Pole Spectrograph (SE-SPS) of the John D. Fox Superconducting Linear Accelerator Laboratory at Florida State University…
This thesis is organized into four chapters: Chapter 1 provides an overview of previous missions focused on monitoring earthquake precursors from space and highlights popular theories connecting space-measured seismic precursors to…
The Beta-decay Paul Trap is an open-geometry, linear trap used to measure the decays of $^8$Li and $^8$B to search for a tensor contribution to the weak interaction. In the latest $^8$Li measurement of Burkey et al. (2022), $\beta$…
This article reports on the use of a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) platform for local ultra-stable optical frequency distribution through a 90 m-long fiber network. This platform is used to implement a fully digital treatment of the…