Optical Links Workshop Information for Manufacturers

Introduction

The purpose of this page is to provide information for manufacturers attending the Second Workshop on Optical Readout Technologies for ATLAS to be hosted by the Oxford ATLAS group at the Nuclear Physics Laboratory Oxford 7-8 Januray 1999.

ATLAS

• Physics Goals: ATLAS is one of several experiments which will study a new regime in Physics which will be opened up by the operation of the Large Hadron Collider, LHC, when it turns on in 2005. The LHC will provide head on collisions of very intense beams of 7 TeV protons with 7 TeV protons which will recreate conditions similar to those present in the very early universe, some 10^-12 seconds after the Big Bang. This will give us a unique window to an energy regime where new phenomena are predicted to exist and thus enable us to understand the defficiencies in our present understanding of fundemental Physics.
• Technology: In order to meet the Physics specifications the ATLAS detector is very large, about 20 metres high by 30 metres long and yet it will measure the trajectories of charged particles in a magnetic field to a precision of about 0.01 mm. The detetcor contains over 10⁸ channels of electronics. Components inside the detector will have to survive a very harsh radiation envronment and will have to operate reliably for 10 years with little or no maintanance. In addition the components nearest to the beam line must be very low mass in order not to degrade the measurements of the outgoing particles. Collisions occur at the centre of the detector at the rate of ~ 1GHz and each event consists of Mbytes of data. There is therefore an enormous challange for the trigger system to select the interesting events for readout and for the redout system to transfer the data from the selected events to off-detector electronics. Hence there is a requirement for very high bandwidth for the optical readout system.
• Organisation: The ATLAS detector is being designed and constructed by a world wide collaboration of scientists and engineers at 150 Universities and Laboratories from 33 different countries.

Optical Technologies within ATLAS

Optical links will be used extensively by ATLAS to transfer data to and (more usually) from the detector. VCSEL based optical links are being developed by ATLAS institutes in collaboration with industry. This workshop will address the issues of transferring data from the on-detector electronics to the off-detector electronics. The workshop will also consider packaging, fibre, connector and installation issues. Detailed specifications for the optical links are available here.

Notes for Speakers

As a key part of the program there will be presentations by manufacturers. We hope the talks will concentrate on how to solve the challenging technical problems for the use of optical links in ATLAS rather than on commercial aspects of different companies. We would however welcome imformation on cost projections for two and five years time. If some points are too sensitive to discuss in a public forum, there will be an opportunity for infomal private discussions with manufacturers on Friday afternoon. The times allocated to talks are given in the workshop programme but please allow 10 minutes for discussion. If you require any visiual aids other than an overhead projector and a slide projector please let a local organiser (Tony Weidberg [+44]-(0)1865 273370) know.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please bring a paper copy of your talk with you when you come to the workshop. This will allow us to distribute copies of all talks before the end of the workshop.

Informal Discussions

There will be an opportunity for informal discussions between manufacturers and users on Friday afternoon. Manufacturers are welcome to bring example products and any relevant literature. If you would like to request space for such an exhibition or simply to reserve space for private discussions then please let a local organiser know.

This page is maintained by Tony Weidberg