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A multiplexed digitizer for dark matter detection
Christina Holman 17, James Battat,
*
and James D. Phillips
*
Wellesley College Physics Department
The search for the unidentified mass or dark matter within the Milky
Way galaxy is the primary goal of the Directional Recoil Information
from Tracks (DRIFT) experiment. The experiment focuses on the
detection of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), a theorized
form of dark matter. In a chamber containing rarefied CS
2
gas,
collisions between a WIMP and CS
2
gas molecules would yield Carbon
or Sulfur ions. The ions drift toward electrical wires and generate
pulses, which are identified by an electrical readout circuit.
Objective: Read 1000 wires, each at 1 million samples per second,
seeking events.
Four 4-to-1 multiplexers connect sample wires sequentially to a sole
input of an 8-channel Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) chip. A
high-speed multichannel ADC reduces power and cost per wire.
A full ADC chip or 8 4x(4:1) multiplexer configurations is
replicated 8 times to connect to all 1000 wires.
Octal ADC chips are then connected to a Field-Programmable Gate
Array (FPGA), which selects electrical pulses above a threshold.
The task for Summer 2014 is to build a 16:1 MUX board. The ADC and
FPGAare both off-the-shelf parts and require no additional assembly.
DETECTION SCHEME
ELECTRONICS DESIGN
Contact Christina Holman at cholman@wellesley.edu; James Battat at
jbattat@wellesley.edu; or James Phillips at jdpphysics@gmail.com.
Please also visit the project site for more information on testing and
components or the design blog for details on the building process. For
information on gEDAsoftware, visit www.geda-project.org.
Project Site: www.tinyurl.com/lecv2hh
Design Blog: cholman-summer2014.blogspot.com
CONCLUSION
Jim McArthur at the Harvard
Electronic Instrument Design
Lab; Clive Bolton at Bolton
Engineering, Inc.; the Wellesley
College Science Center Summer
Program; and the Massachusetts
Space Grant Consortium for
supporting my summer research
internship.
Source: www. driftdarkmatter.org
BACKGROUND
FOR MORE INFORMATION
SPECIAL THANKS TO
The prototype worked well with clock
speeds (Yellow) at 1 kHz (Fig. III, left).
The A0 (Magenta) and A1 (Blue) outputs
had l i t t l e ri ngi ng. The 300 MHz
oscilloscope also showed the MUX output
switching crisply between the four channels
(Green). However, at 2 MHz and above,
some defects appear (Fig. IV, Right).
Ringing is now apparent on the address
lines, and this leads the MUX to switch
when it should not. Capacitance in the
MUX, together with the high impedance of
the prototype signal generator, causes the
slow settling.
Multiplexer demo boards (LMH6574) were used
to build a prototype on a breadboard. A divider
circuit a series of 2.2 k! resistors was used
to simulate the electrical pulses transmitted
through a twisted-pair ribbon cable to a
multiplexer (MUX). A 4-bit binary counter
( 74LVC161) and 2- t o- 4 l i ne decoder
(74LVC139A-Q1) form the address generator.
The counters least significant bits (A0 and A1)
select among the four channels (00, 01, 10, 11)
of each MUX. Bits A2 and A3 drive a decoder
that uses the MUX Shutdown lines to select
one at a time. As a first prototype, we built a
two-MUX circuit and tested multiplexing of
eight analog inputs to one output.
The degraded performance at high frequencies of the prototype is attributed to the inductance caused by
long wires, signal reflections from the lack of back terminations, and the combination of Digital and
Analog on a single ground point. The next version will cure these problems using a printed circuit board
(PCB). The signals will travel short distances in microstrip transmission lines. Separate analog and
digital ground planes (connected by a single bridge) will be used. An inverting buffer will drive multiple
MUXs, and resistors will provide back-termination. Schematics for all electrical connections and
a PCB layout were generated using gEDA open source Electronic Design Automation software.
Figure III. A300 MHz oscilloscope shows a clock (Yellow),
A0 (Magenta) and A1 (Blue) counter outputs, and a single
MUX (Green) operating at 1 kHz.
Figure IV. A300 MHz oscilloscope shows a clock (Yellow),
A0 (Magenta) and A1 (Blue) counter outputs, and a single
MUX (Green) operating at 10 MHz.
ADC Adevice for converting analog signals to digital form.
Binary Counter Adigital circuit that has a clock input and a number of count outputs or clock cycles (bits).
Decoder Adigital circuit that uses binary information on n input lines to select one of 2
n
output lines.
DRIFT Asecond generation dark matter detector designed for WIMP detection.
FPGA Field-programmable gate array; an integrated circuit capable of very fast parallel processing. It is
configured by the customer after manufacture.
Inductance (Capacitance) the ability of a system to store an electric current (charge).
Multiplexer a device that selects one of several analog or digital input signals and forwards the selected input into
a single line.
PCB Printed Circuit Board; a circuit consisting of thin strips of conducting material and to which integrated
circuits and other components are attached.
WIMP Weakly Interacting Massive Particles; a leading candidate for the composition of dark matter.
Figure I (Below): Block diagram of the address
generator and 4x(4:1) MUX board. Figure II (Right):
The first prototype connects the 3 main components
(labeled).
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Figure V. At 1 MHz, defects are increasingly apparent.
Ringing on the address lines is increased, but the eight stages
are still identiable on the dual-MUX output.
Figure VI. The address generator with test points and
resistors are connected on the PCB with tracing on the front
(Red) and back (Blue) sides.
Keywords
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