Testing micro-channel plate detectors for the particle identification upgrade of LHCb

The TORCH, Time of internally Reflected Cherenkov Light, is proposed for the high luminosity upgrade of the LHCb experiment. The detector combines Time-of-Flight and Cherenkov techniques to achieve positive pi/K/p separation on a >= 3 sigma level in the momentum range below 10 GeV/c. The required time resolution is <= 50 ps for single photon signal. In a preliminary R\&D phase, we have shown that already commercially available micro-channel plate tubes with 8 x 8 channels fulfil the requirements. Timing properties of the tubes have been investigated with a pulsed laser diode in single photon regime. Key results from these laboratory tests are reported. An excellent timing resolution of <40 ps is achieved with an efficiency of similar to 90\%. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.