A study on a position sensitive time of flight detector based on a neural network signal processing

The capabilities of a position sensitive time of flight scintillator (TOF-PS), viewed by an array of subminiature PMTs and based on a neural network signal processing, are studied. For each PMT, time and charge informations are fed to an artificial neural network to define on-line the event position. The first prototype of this detector consists of two 1.5 cm × 1.5 cm × 100 cm scintillator strips viewed by four directly coupled subminiature PMTs. A TOF time resolution of 166 ps and a spatial resolution of 2 cm (single counter) have been achieved.