Evaluation of a Cerenkov prototype for the MoNA Collaboration

A Cherenkov detector is under development within the MoNA Collaboration to complement the existing MoNA-LISA/Sweeper charged detector system and improve its particle identification due to the high beam energy at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (b»0.4- 0.45). The material and optical properties of several materials (4H SiC, GaN, multilayer graphene (MLG), single layer graphene (SLG), silicon diamond like carbon (Si-DLC), and Si) were investigated over the past year narrowing the choice down to GaN (with a unique recombining property and high density) and diamond (with a hybrid laser induced graphite columns segmentation capability). Two prototype detectors were built from these materials based on the results from simulation and low energy trials. Performances and damages were investigated using low energy ion beams (below 50 MeV/u) and light collection using SiPM were performed at FRIB, CEMHTI and GANIL. A new Geant4 simulation tool was also developed that provides information on the defects and recoils within the material lattice and was compared to experimental data. We will discuss the results obtained from this study as well as the unique design of this Cerenkov detector that has the ability to accommodate a large energy window.