HV power supply for NeuLAND

19.12.2014 | 

The first high-voltage distributors for the neutron detector NeuLAND within the FAIR research collaboration NUSTAR have arrived from Russia’s Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute (PNPI). The devices will supply the total of 6,000 photoelectron multiplier tubes (PMT) in NeuLAND. The PMT amplify light signals which are created when neutrons fly though the detector, and convert these into electrical signals. At present the predecessor devices of the distributors are being tested at GSI under different voltages.

The high-voltage distributor system specially developed for NeuLAND can be constructed more accurately and considerably more cost-favorably at PNPI than similar devices available commercially. The coordinator from PNPI, Dr. Lev Uvarov, explains: “Normally high-voltage distributors are designed for the operation of 32 or 64 channels, for example. Our distributors can supply 50 photomultipliers, however, which precisely suits the modular construction of NeuLAND. Moreover, we are using external power supply units. Thus we are able to be more cost-favorable than other providers, who integrate power supply units.”

A total of 120 high-voltage distributors are required for NeuLAND. These will then be affixed laterally to the total of 30 levels accommodated by the NeuLAND detector. Because they only supply photomultipliers on one level, the NeuLAND detector levels also function separately of one another. “Thus we remain flexible if we want to conduct experiments for which it is necessary to split up the detector,” explains Dr. Konstanze Boretzky, head of the NeuLAND working group.