Erlangen 2026 – scientific programme
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HK: Fachverband Physik der Hadronen und Kerne
HK 45: Instrumentation IX
HK 45.1: Talk
Thursday, March 19, 2026, 16:15–16:30, PHIL B 302
Development and Characterization of the CBM Neutron Calorimeter (NCAL) — •Dachi Okropiridze1,2, Dieter Grzonka2,3, and James Ritman2,1,3 for the CBM collaboration — 1Ruhr-Universitat Bochum (RUB), Bochum, Germany — 2GSI Helmholtzzentrum fur Schwerionenforschung GmbH, Darmstadt, Germany — 3Forschungszentrum Julich (FZJ), IKP-1, Julich, Germany
The Neutron Calorimeter (NCAL) is proposed as a neutral spectator detector for the Compressed Baryonic Matter (CBM) experiment at FAIR. Located downstream of the Forward Spectator Detector (FSD), the NCAL detects spectator neutrons at small polar angles, thereby improving centrality determination and reaction-plane reconstruction. Furthermore, it enables a complementary physics program for elementary reactions with final-state neutrons.
The detector design features thick plastic scintillator modules with photomultiplier readout. Two prototypes have been constructed and characterized using minimum-ionizing particles and radioactive sources. A scintillator-based veto detector was developed for charged-particle rejection. We report on response measurements performed with quasi-monoenergetic neutron beams at the UJV Rez cyclotron, evaluating neutron detection efficiency and energy resolution.
Additionally, NCAL prototypes were tested in the mCBM experiment at GSI. Integrated into a DiRICH-based data acquisition system, the detector's rate capability and stability were investigated under realistic beam conditions.
Keywords: NCAL; CBM; Neutron; Detector; Scintillator