Multichannel FPGA based MVT system for high precision time (20~ps~RMS) and charge measurement

Abstract

In this article it is presented an FPGA based $M$ulti-$V$oltage $T$hreshold (MVT) system which allows of sampling fast signals ($1-2$ ns rising and falling edge) in both voltage and time domain. It is possible to achieve a precision of time measurement of $20$ ps RMS and reconstruct charge of signals, using a simple approach, with deviation from real value smaller than 10$\%$. Utilization of the differential inputs of an FPGA chip as comparators together with an implementation of a TDC inside an FPGA allowed us to achieve a compact multi-channel system characterized by low power consumption and low production costs. This paper describes realization and functioning of the system comprising 192-channel TDC board and a four mezzanine cards which split incoming signals and discriminate them. The boards have been used to validate a newly developed Time-of-Flight Positron Emission Tomography system based on plastic scintillators. The achieved full system time resolution of $\sigma$(TOF) $\approx 68$ ps is by factor of two better with respect to the current TOF-PET systems.

Accepted for publication in JINST, 10 pages, 8 figures

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Cited by in corpus (5)

• Positronium imaging with the novel multiphoton PET scanner
• Testing CPT symmetry in ortho-positronium decays with positronium annihilation tomography
• Discrete symmetries tested at 10${}^{-4}$ precision using linear polarization of photons from positronium annihilations
• Optimisation of the event-based TOF filtered back-projection for online imaging in total-body J-PET
• Synchronisation and calibration of the 24-modules J-PET prototype with 300~mm axial field of view