Progress in fundamental physics calls for pushing the current state-of-the-art for detectors, and developing new technologies that would boost the efficiency while reducing the cost and the environmental impact of future experiments. For future experiment to continue playing their important role in scientific inquiry a solid programme on developing detector technologies is needed.

This spirit lies at the core of CERN’s EP department R&D programme on Technologies for Future Experiments that was officially launched last autumn during a one-day workshop at CERN’s Council Chamber. A dedicated website for this programme is under development, offering a space for the members of the programme to present their progress and discuss new ideas. Following a training session earlier this year in February, project participants (CERN Staff member, fellows, PhD and technical students) will be invited to share their work over the next couple of months until the final release of the website in May.

Figure 1: Part of the front page of the new website developed by EP-SFT to host the R&D of the new programme. 

The EP R&D programme is the outcome of a two-year consultation process with the different stakeholders both from CERN and from other laboratories, launched in November 2017. During two subsequent R&D workshops in March and September 2018, working groups presented R&D lines and the key challenges for the experiments during the HL-LHC phase of the LHC and at future colliders. Following a bottom-up approach an overall strategic plan and a list of key topics has been identified, culminating in a document submitted to CERN’s Enlarged Directorate.

Currently, the programme comprises 11 Working Packages in the areas of Gas and Silicon Detectors (exploring monolithic and novel hybrid-pixel technologies) and Calorimetry while separate working groups will explore the mechanical requirements (including low-mass structures and cooling), Integrated Circuit technologies and High-Speed links needed for the fast transmission of data, as well as the software requirements to ensure efficient analysis and fast simulations. Finally, a separate topic of key importance is the design of experimental magnets that are used to deflect the charged particles coming from the interaction region. Furthermore, each work package covers a number of tasks and specific deliverables exploiting synergies and ensuring a smooth collaboration given the overlap between certain aspects of detector design.

The programme is supervised by a Steering Committee chaired by the Head of the Physics Department while Christian Joram acts as Programme Coordinator and is in charge of the implementation of this ambitious R&D programme. Today, particle detectors merge different possible techniques to create “digital images” of particles and the defined tasks will push the limits of these technologies, giving the opportunity to get more refined images at higher speed and with lower energy consumption and at decreased costs.

The new R&D programme builds on CERN’s long-standing tradition in the development of new detectors. The work of the RD18, RD50 and RD51 collaborations was discussed in detail while possible new collaborations were presented by Burkhard Schmidt, leader of EP’s Detector Technologies group. In his talk he stressed the positive aspects of collaborative R&D, including the boost in creativity through the exchange of fresh ideas as well as the profits from establishing economies of scales between the participating institutes. However, collaborative R&D also requires certain investments and to build a critical mass of institutes and industrial partners who can bring their expertise and show their strong commitment to the R&D effort. The newly launched EP R&D can profit from previous experience and the upsurge in interest in many areas of the world that developed expertise – along with a dedicated community of experts in detector technologies - through previous collaborations with CERN.

The programme also attracts international interest while seeking global coordination on development of novel technologies. During the EP R&D programme launch event, guests Maria Chamizo Llatas from Brookhaven National Laboratory and Petra Merkel from Fermi National Laboratory gave an overview of the US plans for future detector R&D while CERN’s Lucie Linssen offered an update from the AIDA++ open meeting and plans for a new EU proposal focusing on “Innovation for Detector Technologies for Accelerators” with an eye to the LHC experiments upgrades, detectors for neutrino experiments as well as for future Higgs factories and other planned detectors. The meeting closed with a presentation from the recent activities of the ECFA detector panel in light also of the ongoing update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics (see: //ep-news.web.cern.ch/content/investing-detector-technologies).

To quote Freeman Dyson “New directions in science are launched by new tools much more often than by new concepts”, and the launched EP R&D programme promises the development of new tools and technologies that will allow us to continue exploring the tiniest scales of nature during the HL-LHC upgrade, and go further than the LHC in exploring the intensity and energy frontier beyond our current reach.