Speaker
Description
The MOLLER experiment at Jefferson Lab will measure the weak mixing angle with unprecedented precision via parity-violating Møller scattering. The main detector comprises 224 photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) arranged to detect Cherenkov light in the UV range. Ensuring well-characterized spectral response across all detectors is important for detector quality control and optimal PMT positioning within the array.
I developed an automated spectral characterization system using a UV-enhanced arc xenon lamp to measure the relative spectral response for each PMT. The automated pipeline, developed in Python, reduces the time required to characterize a single PMT by approximately 45 minutes compared to manual measurement, enabling efficient full-array characterization.
Measurements across the 80-PMT array reveal a 12% variation in spectral response amplitude. These results are used to inform the physical positioning of PMTs within the MOLLER detector ring. Characterization data are currently being analyzed to establish quality control criteria for detector acceptance.
This work demonstrates a characterization directly applicable to precision detector systems in nuclear and particle physics experiments.
| Keyword-1 | PMT characterization |
|---|---|
| Keyword-2 | spectral response |
| Keyword-3 | detector instrumentation |