Award Abstract #0321259
Acquisition of Instrumentation for Radiation Hard Optical Electronics Design and Testing

NSF Org:	PHY Division of Physics
Initial Amendment Date:	July 29, 2003
Latest Amendment Date:	July 29, 2003
Award Number:	0321259
Award Instrument:	Standard Grant
Program Manager:	Richard N. Boyd PHY Division of Physics MPS Directorate for Mathematical & Physical Sciences
Start Date:	August 1, 2003
Expires:	July 31, 2004 (Estimated)
Awarded Amount to Date:	$239732
Investigator(s):	Ryszard Stroynowski ryszard@physics.smu.edu (Principal Investigator) Jingbo Ye (Co-Principal Investigator)
Sponsor:	Southern Methodist University 6425 BOAZ DALLAS, TX 75205 214/692-2000
NSF Program(s):	MAJOR RESEARCH INSTRUMENTATION
Field Application(s):	0000099 Other Applications NEC
Program Reference Code(s):	OTHR, 1221, 0000
Program Element Code(s):	1189

ABSTRACT

This proposal requests funds for instrumentation to be used for the development and construction of high speed, radiation resistant opto-electronics components for use in transmitting and receiving digital data. The equipment will be located at the Southern Methodist University (SMU) and at The Ohio State University (OSU) and will be used for the design and construction of readout electronics for the ATLAS experiment's liquid argon calorimeter and pixel detector. . ATLAS is one of two large-scale detectors being constructed for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the CERN laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland. When the LHC turns on in 2007, it will be the premier particle physics facility in the world. The intellectual merit of this proposal is the advancement of our understanding of the laws of nature. The Higgs boson is the one essential ingredient in the standard model of particle physics that has yet to be discovered. The ATLAS experiment is designed both to discover the Higgs boson and to study its properties in detail.

While these fast, radiation resistant digital data links are being developed for ATLAS, fast data transfer via optical fibers has many applications. In high-energy physics experiments, it substantially reduces the volume of cables thereby freeing up valuable space as well as removing electrical ground loops. The wide bandwidth of opto-electronics is well suited for multiplexing input channels and allows for the introduction of error checking and error recovery transmission protocols. These features are especially important in the presence of radiation. Over the past several years, both the SMU and OSU groups have developed expertise in the design and fabrication of opto-electronics components. The SMU group has designed and constructed fast optical data links for the liquid argon calorimeter. The OSU group is the lead institution in the design and testing of the optical electronics for the pixel detector optical link and has developed radiation hard versions of the Digital Opto-Receiver Integrated Circuit and the Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers driver circuit. The equipment requested will allow the groups to broaden their expertise in opto-electronics as well as to strengthen their present and future contributions to the ATLAS experiment.

Among the broader impacts of this proposal are enhancing the infrastructure of the SMU and OSU groups; exciting and attracting a new generation of scientists; developing techniques and electronics that have applications beyond HEP; disseminating the information learned in this project to the scientific and business community, and providing an example to society of a collaborative effort that crosses geographic and cultural boundaries.

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