CMS Hadronic EndCap Calorimeter Upgrade R&D Studies

Due to an expected increase in radiation damage in LHC, we propose to replace the active material of the CMS Hadronic EndCap calorimeters with radiation hard quartz plate. Quartz is proven to be radiation hard with radiation damage tests using electron, proton, neutron and gamma beams. However, the light produced in quartz is from Cerenkov process, which yields drastically fewer photons than scintillators. To increase the light collection efficiency we pursue two separate methods: First method: use wavelength shifting (WLS) fibers, which have been shown to collect efficiently the Cerenkov light generated in quartz plates. A quartz plate calorimeter prototype with WLS fibers has been constructed and tested at CERN that shows this method is feasible. Second proposed solution is to treat the quartz plates with radiation hard wavelength shifters, p-terphenyl, doped zinc oxide, or doped CdS. Another calorimeter prototype has been constructed with p-terphenyl deposited quartz plates, and showed superior calorimeter capabilities. We report the test beam, bench tests as well as the Geant4 simulation results of these calorimeter prototypes. We also outline the future directions on these possible upgrade scenarios for the CMS HE calorimeter.