Power napping for detectors

The Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) study is looking at silicon capacitors to help with power pulsing

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If physicists had it their way, detectors of the future would be powered with air. They want no material and no electronic noise to disturb their measurements. Powering by air isn’t a realistic option, so electrical engineers are tackling the challenge, putting a lot of effort into keeping noise down and material out. One of them is Cristian Fuentes at CERN. His latest project: power pulsing for the CLIC detector.

Using a power-pulsing scheme, the CLIC detector, much like the ILC detectors, could save space that would otherwise have to be set aside for cooling mechanisms. Operating electronics produce heat, which would have to be carried away to keep the detectors operational; electronics on stand-by don’t, at least not as much. Of course the CLIC bunch structure is different to that of the ILC, but the fundamental ideas – and the challenges – are very similar. The detector has to function when collisions happen, but can go to micro-sleep in the microsecond-periods of calm in between. This means that less heat is produced, so less heat has to be dissipated, which in turn means that the mass needed for cooling can be reduced.

Read more: "Power napping for detectors" – Linear Collider Newsline