Our Research
Silicon Vertex Tracker for ePIC
The ePIC (Electron-Proton/Ion Collider) collaboration is developing the first experiment for the upcoming EIC (Electron-Ion Collider) at Brookhaven National Lab, planned to start in the early 2030’s. The Silicon Vertex Tracker (SVT) will utilize MAPS for precision tracking of charged particles. Our team is developing both software and hardware for the SVT.
Initial testing is partially automated and performed with a wafer probe device. We are building this test system including probe cards, adapter cards and software that will automate pixel matrix scans. This system will be able to accommodate high bandwidth signals from the detector, up to 10 Gbps. In addition, we are developing fully automated routines to configure the detector, verify the yield of noisy and dead pixels, and perform threshold scans to identify sensor noise levels. Once sensors are finalized and wire-bonded to readout cards, our team will build the readout software.
The SVT will have an incredible pixel density and high statistics requirements, necessitating extreme efficiency from cutting edge technology.
MVTX for the sPHENIX experiment
sPHENIX is a radical makeover of the PHENIX experiment, one of the original detectors designed to collect data at Brookhaven National Lab’s RHIC (Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider). It includes many new components that significantly enhance scientists’ ability to learn about quark-gluon plasma (QGP), an exotic form of nuclear matter created in RHIC’s energetic particle smashups.
The innermost layer of sPHENIX is the MVTX (MAPS-based VerTeX) detector which measures the position of charged particles emerging from RHIC’s collisions and is a critical component for measuring charged particle momentum. MAPS represent a new development in pixel technologies in which pixels are embedded directly into the readout chips, instead of bump-bonding silicon wafers to ASICs. This allows for a lower material budget, smaller pixel size, and reduced noise, providing a significant improvement to the hit, momentum and vertex resolutions.
MIT is a major proponent of the MVTX project. We have made contributions in all aspects of the detector: the design of the support mechanism, the carbon fibre structure, the detector cooling system, readout firmware, and control software. We also participated in the construction and installation of the final detector. The MVTX is currently installed in sPHENIX at Brookhaven National Laboratory, where it has been collecting data since Spring 2023.
Artificial intelligence for FPGAs
Modern high-energy physics experiments generate so much data that it impossible to record everything. An initial selection of interesting events is required to reduce the data rate to a manageable level. Our team is using the sPHENIX experiment to demonstrate a “smart trigger” which will be deployed at the future EIC (Electron-Ion Collider).
Collision event data are continuously streamed from the inner silicon detectors to the smart trigger. The trigger performs fast event reconstruction and utilizes machine learning algorithms employed directly on an FPGA to decide whether or not an event should be recorded, all within 5 μs!
In sPHENIX, the inner silicon sensors are a MAPS-based vertex detector—the MVTX—and a strip-based timing detector—the INTT—which make fast decisions on a FELIX FPGA board to trigger the remaining two tracking detectors: a GEM detector and a Micromega detector.
MIT personnel are key developers of the hls4ml software used to convert machine learning algorithms to firmware blocks. Our team designed the initial simulations used to develop the tracking and trigger algorithms, and is behind the construction of the firmware-based clustering for the MVTX detector. In addition, we built and maintain a server housing FELIX cards for the development and testing of global firmware.