THE 8-PI-LP PROJECT - A 4-PI LIGHT CHARGED-PARTICLE DETECTION ARRAY AT LNL

A 4 pi detection system sensitive to light charged particles is being developed at the Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro (LNL) for the study o f the reaction mechanisms produced in heavy ion collisions at energies up to 20 AMeV. The 8 pi LP apparatus is a telescope assembly characte rized by large solid angle (90% of 4 pi) and high granularity (262 mod ules). Particle identification at low energy is obtained by combining Delta E-E, TOF and PSD techniques. Each telescope is made of a 300 mu m passivated silicon detector and a 15 mm (or 5 mm) CsI(TI) crystal wi th photodiode readout. Thresholds for particle identification range fr om 1 MeV for protons and 3 MeV for alpha particles to about 2-3 AMeV f or C ions. A low-cost trigger and readout bus system has been develope d to cope with the large number of parameters and the high counting ra te. The system will be fully operational for experiments in the Summer of 1997.