TARGET ASIC-Based Data Acquisition System for the Readout Electronics of the WATCHMAN Detector

Abstract

The WATer CHerenkov Monitor for ANtineutrinos (WATCHMAN), is a new detector concept for nuclear non-proliferation monitoring. WATCHMAN will use inverse beta decay reactions in its gadolinium-doped water tank to detect the low energy antineutrinos from nuclear reactions. The detector consists of a 5 kiloton water tank instrumented with around 3600 photomultiplier tubes. This thesis presents the design, simulation and testing of the TARGETC ASIC-based FPGA Mezzanine Card (FMC) Prototype as a demonstration that a TARGET solution will satisfy WATCHMAN's readout requirements. The TARGETC FMC Prototype is a cost-effective data acquisition system that can handle a large number of photomultiplier tubes while digitizing the signals at a high sampling rate. The system uses the TARGETC ASIC, developed by the University of Hawaii as a multi-channel transient waveform digitizer. Employing a commercial System-On-Module with a Zynq-based FPGA, the TARGETC FMC Prototype system offers a self-triggered, dead-time less (at 10 kHz trigger rate), low-cost system compared to commercial alternatives. Simulations of the readout module under 10 kHz dark noise rate are carried out to ensure 100% efficient capture of neutrino inverse-beta decay events.