ANL HEP Student Opportunities

HEP Projects for PHD Students

Argonne HEP division have opportunities for Graduate Students (and their supervisors) to participate in short term (6 month to 1 year) projects that is going on in the division. The participation involves, typically, visiting the ANL HEP division for the duration of the project.

The following lists are current opportunities (May 2013) available. Some of these projects may be appropriate as a component of a PhD program. Others may be an entry level project for a particular experiment, such as ATLAS at LHC.

If you have a student who might be interested in one of the projects below, please email the contact person associated with the project. If the participation found to be suitable by all parties, specifics of the project will be worked out by you and the contact person.

List of Opportunities

Development of a Level 1 Calorimeter FEX algorithm (with Bob Blair and Jinlong Zhang)

Develop a Level 1 calorimeter feature extraction algorithm suitable for implementation in the ATLAS Phase 1 upgrade L1Calo FEX. Optimize this using simulated data sets and evaluate trigger rate improvements achieved. He will write code suitable for use in the FEX FPGA, VHDL, that implements the algorithm and is suitable for use in the Phase 1 upgraded level 1 calorimeter trigger.

FTK Level‐2 Interface Card (with Jinlong Zhang and Jeremy Love)

Participate in the commissioning the FTK Level‐2 Interface Card (FLIC). The performance of the FLIC will need to be established and its full functionality tested. The student could be responsible for measuring input, output, and error rates, as well as testing firmware of the board and ensuring communication with other FTK and Level‐2 systems.

Develop software utilities in support of HPC development (with Tom LeCompte and Sergei Chekanov)

Assist with the porting of ATLAS software to supercomputers and enabling grid access to them. This may involve scripting, benchmarking, validation, profiling and optimization. Much of the early work will revolve around accepting and reformatting jobs received from the grid and output data sent to the grid. Develop, implement and test software for encoding of Monte Carlo event/particle records from different Monte Carlo programs written both in C++ (Pythia, Herwig++) and Fortran (Alpgen) for application in optimizing file storage of large Monte Carlo generator files and for efficient exchange with High Performance Computers, such as Blue Gene/Q.

DHCAL Data Analysis: Noise studies

The DHCAL (Digital Hadron Calorimeter) is a prototype calorimeter using RPCs (Resistive Plate Chambers) as active elements. The readout is finely segmented into 1 x 1 cm^2 pads, each read out with a 1-bit resolution (on/off). The DHCAL currently holds the world record in channel counts of any calorimeter used in HEP. The device is novel in its concept as well as in its technical realization. It was exposed to test beams both at Fermilab and CERN. Currently the major effort is to analyze the test beam data.

Noise levels in the DHCAL are generally very low. Nevertheless, a complete knowledge of its characteristics and an understanding of its sources are necessary. E.g. the correlation between noise hits and showers measured in the DHCAL needs to be investigated. This is a ~1 year project, likely leading to a publication. The student needs to be familiar with C++ and root and is expected to work full time on this project. Mentor: Lei Xia

Tracking with the DHCAL

The DHCAL (Digital Hadron Calorimeter) is a prototype calorimeter using RPCs (Resistive Plate Chambers) as active elements. The readout is finely segmented into 1 x 1 cm^2 pads, each read out with a 1-bit resolution (on/off). The DHCAL currently holds the world record in channel counts of any calorimeter used in HEP. The device is novel in its concept as well as in its technical realization. It was exposed to test beams both at Fermilab and CERN. The DHCAL layers can be used to track cosmic rays. The plan is to assemble a cosmic ray test stand with 2 x n layers (where n is >4). The two groups of layers would be separated by a gap, where different probes (high – Z materials) will be inserted. This is a ~1 year project, likely leading to a publication. The student will be involved in setting up the cosmic ray test stand, will operate the chambers and analyze the data. The student needs to be familiar with C++ and root and is expected to work full time on this project. Mentors: Lei Xia and Jose Repond.

Software Compensation with the DHCAL

The DHCAL (Digital Hadron Calorimeter) is a prototype calorimeter using RPCs (Resistive Plate Chambers) as active elements. The readout is finely segmented into 1 x 1 cm^2 pads, each read out with a 1-bit resolution (on/off). The DHCAL currently holds the world record in channel counts of any calorimeter used in HEP. The device is novel in its concept as well as in its technical realization. It was exposed to test beams both at Fermilab and CERN.

The response to pions and electrons are not equal in the DHCAL, leading to a degradation of the pion energy resolution. Software compensation techniques are expected to help improve both the linearity of the response as well as the resolution. This is a ~2 year project, likely leading to a publication. The student needs to be familiar with C++ and root and is expected to work full time on this project. Mentor: Jose Repond.

Optical R&D I

The optical group in the Division will want to implement a commercial 10 Gbps modulator into the front end and back end electronics of the ATLAS Tile Calorimeter. Duplicating existing LabView DAQ code in a Visual C++ environment. This task should take no more than several months full time effort with minimal VC++ experience.

Optical R&D II

The optical group in the Division will want to implement a commercial 10 Gbps modulator into the front end and back end electronics of the ATLAS Tile Calorimeter. This task is to implement a Kintex 7 Evaluation board to control, acquire and monitor errors from the modulator devices. Depending on the proficiency, this task can take up to one year, either full time or half time.

Optical R&D III

The optical group in the Division will want to implement a commercial 10 Gbps modulator into the front end and back end electronics of the ATLAS Tile Calorimeter. This task is to remove the on-board laser from the commercial modulator, subsequently bringing in the laser light over a single-mode fiber into the device. This task may involve the use of CNM facilities. Depending on success and follow-up, this task could be completed within a year at half-time rate.

Feedback control of laser polarization sent to remote light modulators

The scenario is laser off big HEP detector, sending cw light to modulator through cheap single mode fiber, and the data is sent out to a receiver off detector. The modulator requires light polarization in a certain direction, and the polarization from the laser is rotated randomly by the fiber. Detect either power or modulation depth at the received signal - off detector. Use microcontroller etc in feedback loop to adjust polarization at laser source to demonstrate a system

Analyze RHIC / STAR proton spin data during the summer.

The goal is to try a very different approach compared to existing STAR code to finding photons and in particular di-photons in the endcap electromagnetic calorimeter. Base the approach as much as possible on calorimeter tower information before using shower maximum information. (Requires knowing or finding shower shape integrated over depth to find tower sharing.) This should allow detection of etas which are useful for calibration, and the widely separated photons are also useful for measuring the material between vertex and detector as a function of position.

Make a working thick GEM detector.

Revise current printed circuit boards to avoid the HV breakdown seen with current boards, and design/construction of new gas box to get trigger scintillators closer than they are now.

ASIC Testing

Testing of the QIE chip as the front‐end readout device for the Tile Calorimeter in Phase II (Gary Drake, Jimmy Proudfoot, Ben Auerbach)

Component Testing

Testing of the R5800 plus passive and active voltage divider to determine performance characteristics in high pileup conditions (Ben Auerbach)

ATLAS Occupancy Studies

Studies of hit occupancies in zero‐bias triggered data to estimate usefulness in measuring the gain stability of the tile calorimeter cells and of the E1,2,3,4 gap and cryostat scintillators (Jimmy Proudfoot)

ATLAS Calorimeter Monitoring

Tile calorimeter monitoring in support of the ongoing refurbishment work (Larry Nodulman)

Planar Antennae Simulation

RF simulation of planar antenna and microstrip structures (2-3 months at 50%): This involves setting up RF simulation software and examining the performance of different antenna and signal filtering structures. Mentors: Clarence Chang, Gensheng Wang.

Commissioning Cryogenic Test Bed

Commissioning of a new cryogenic test bed (3 months at 50%): This involves assembling, operating, benchmarking, and machining of hardware to bring a new cryogenic test bed online at ANL. It can only start once we order the cryogenic system, though it could include the design of the cryostat and radiation shields if that is required. Mentor: Gensheng Wang.

Transition Edge Sensor Characterization

Characterization of TES properties on deposition parameters (9 months at 75%): This is an extensive program of thin film deposition, micro-fabrication, and testing. The goal is to understand how different deposition parameters impact the R(T) of a TES for a few different TES materials. This task requires extremely steady hands and a willingness to work extended hours. Mentors: Clarence Chang, Val Novosad, Gensheng Wang.

Fundamental Understanding of Ultra Thin Sb Film Deposition

Alkali antimonide photocathodes are extensively used in photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) for applications in medical imaging, chemical analysis, industrial measurements and scientific research. The synthesis process of these materials usually follows an empirical recipe: (1) deposition of an initial thin Sb layer, (2) sequential diffusion of alkali metal vapors. Recent X-ray studies indicate that the properties of the initial Sb layer have a strong effect on the final photocathode performance. It is critical to understand the optical, electrical and structural properties of the initial thin Sb film for high performance photocathode development. A proposal on the study of optical, electrical and structure properties of initial Sb film using advanced material characterization facilities in Center for Nanoscale Materials (CNM) at Argonne National Laboratory has been approved recently. This task calls for a full-time student available during the summer to work on this project together with post-doc researchers and staffs in HEP. The student is expected to be willing to learn the basics of thin film characterization techniques such as UV-visible spectroscopy, I-V curve measurement, AFM and XRD. A publication on “Fundamental understanding of ultra thin Sb film” is expected from this research project.

Simulation of Alkali-antimonide Photocathode QE and Material Optical and Structural Properties

Studies indicate that the performance of the final photocathode is strongly dependent on its structural properties: e.g. a stoichiometrically matched crystalline alkali-antimonide structure exhibits much higher QE than other structures. Meanwhile, anti-reflection layers with optimized optical structure can further enhance the photocathode QE in photomultipliers. The optimization of structure and optical properties of alkali photocathode via first-principle calculation is expected to give guideline for high QE photocathode design and fabrication. This task calls for a postdoctoral researcher working half time for one year on this project together with post-doc researchers and staffs in HEP.