Tests of a prototype multiplexed fiber-optic ultra-fast FADC data acquisition system for the MAGIC telescope

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218

123

Figure 1: The two 17 m diameter MAGIC telescope system operating at the Roque de los Muchachos observatory in La Palma. The telescope in front is MAGIC-II. AbstractThe MAGIC telescopes are two Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) located on the Canary island of La Palma. The telescopes are designed to measure Cherenkov light from air showers initiated by gamma rays in the energy regime from around 50 GeV to more than 50 TeV. The two telescopes were built in 2004 and 2009, respectively, with different cameras, triggers and readout systems. In the years 2011-2012 the MAGIC collaboration undertook a major upgrade to make the stereoscopic system uniform, improving its overall performance and easing its maintenance. In particular, the camera, the receivers and the trigger of the first telescope were replaced and the readout of the two telescopes was upgraded. This paper (Part I) describes the details of the upgrade as well as the basic performance parameters of MAGIC such as raw data treatment, linearity in the electronic chain and sources of noise. In Part II, we describe the physics performance of the upgraded system.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The major upgrade of the MAGIC telescopes, Part I: The hardware improvements and the commissioning of the system

Aleksić

Ansoldi

Antonelli

et al. 2016

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218

123

“…The cost of the data acquisition electronics for the A-T design is equal to or less than for the D-C design. Both designs will benefit from the successful application of fast multiplexing, either at the telescope trigger level, which enables only the fraction of the full camera which contains the air-shower image to be digitized and stored, or at the digitization level where optical fiber delay lines are utilized to multiplex signals from several pixels into single FADC channel [ 36]. These technologies potentially have the promise to reduce $ daq by a factor of ten or larger.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wide field aplanatic two-mirror telescopes for ground-based γ-ray astronomy

Vassiliev

Fegan

Brousseau

2007

176

146

The field of very high energy (VHE) ground-based γ-ray astronomy, pioneered by the Whipple 10m atmospheric Cherenkov telescope (ACT) [ 1], is being revolutionized by the second generation observatories, H.E.S.S.[ 2], MAGIC [ 3], and VERITAS [ 4]. Dozens of new γ-ray sources, some representing new classes of VHE emitters, have been discovered during the last decade [ 5]. In space based gamma-ray astronomy a leap in technology from SAS-2/COS-B [ 6,7] to EGRET [ 8] lead to an order of magnitude increase in detected sources; the leap to GLAST/LAT [ 9, 10] technology is anticipated to produce a further order of magnitude increase. The lesson to be learned is that increases in sensitivity, angular resolution and ultimately in scientific output comes through progress in detector technology. In anticipation of such progress it is valuable to re-evaluate the design limitations of current generation ACT observatories and to investigate where improvements can be made that will lead to the next generation. In this paper we focus on one component, the optical system.

“…A more speculative solution could be to use the local trigger to activate a fast "electronic switch" which may forward only signals in the RoI to 500 digitizers (see [19] for a similar solution using an optical switch). This would represent a significant cost reduction for readout and data storage, but may be technically challenging, for instance due to an increase of deadtime.…”

Section: Focal Plane Instrumentation and Readoutmentioning

confidence: 99%

MACHETE: A transit imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope to survey half of the very high energy γ -ray sky

Cortina

López-Coto

Moralejo

2016

Current Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes for Very High Energy γ-ray astrophysics are pointing instruments with a Field of View up to a few tens of sq deg. We propose to build an array of two non-steerable (drift) telescopes. Each of the telescopes would have a camera with a FOV of 5×60 sq deg oriented along the meridian. About half of the sky drifts through this FOV in a year. We have performed a Montecarlo simulation to estimate the performance of this instrument. We expect it to survey this half of the sky with an integral flux sensitivity of ∼0.77% of the steady flux of the Crab Nebula in 5 years, an analysis energy threshold of ∼150 GeV and an angular resolution of ∼0.1 • . For astronomical objects that transit over the telescope for a specific night, we can achieve an integral sensitivity of 12% of the Crab Nebula flux in a night, making it a very powerful tool to trigger further observations of variable sources using steerable IACTs or instruments at other wavelengths.