EU Collaboration on Fast Advanced Scintillator Timing using SiPM
Fast Advanced Scintillator Timing (FAST) is a trans-domain action in a framework of European Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research (COST). FAST aims to establish an interdisciplinary network that brings together experts with different expertise to develop photon instrumentation with an unparalleled timing precision of better than 100 picoseconds. Such timing could provide breakthroughs in various application areas ranging from high energy physics to nuclear medicine, especially for next-generation Time-Of-Flight Positron Emission Tomography (TOF PET) systems.
Prague Castle oversees the FAST venue – the Technological Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
The first general meeting of this initiative has been held at the Technology Centre of the Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in Prague on 14 and 15 April 2015. The meeting was chaired by Dr. Etiennette Auffray from CERN and gathered about 40 experts from the EU, Russia, USA, and Canada. One of the most impressive advances in SiPM technology for TOF applications was reported by the University of Sherbrook, namely the development of 3D digital SiPM prototypes with a single photon time resolution of 12 ps.
FAST experts after a day-long meeting in discussion about latest detector technologies.
Dr. Sergey Vinogradov, a Senior Marie Curie Fellow in the QUASAR Group was invited to join the Photodetector Working Group and presented an overview of critical photodetector parameters for fast timing with an emphasis on time resolution. His analytical approaches and results were highly appreciated by the participating FAST experts as a valuable tool for the critical evaluation and analysis of SiPM performance and ultimate detection limits.