New developments in fast-sampling readout of Micro-Channel Plate based large area pico-second time-of-flight detectors

Detectors based on Micro-Channel Plate structures coupled to transmission lines could be used to cover large areas while keeping their outstanding timing properties. This development is a key step towards very large area photo-detectors with excellent space and time resolutions, possible “game changers” in high energy physics, medical imaging, and security. A readout device consisting of transmission lines with 3.5 GHz analog bandwidth coupled to the anodes of a 2″x 2″ device is presented. Simulations predict that waveform sampling using ASICs in the 10 Giga-sample/second range allows measuring both space with millimeter precision and fast timing at a few pico-seconds resolution.