Under the direction of Wei Li, our heavy groups will build time-of-flight detectors for the CMS experiment at CERN. Our groups have vast experience with these types of detector using Multi-Gap Resistive Plain Chambers (MRPCs). What makes this project especially interesting is the use of a new technology, based on Low Gain Avalanche Diodes (LGADs). Accurate timing is all-important for time-of-flight detectors, and LGADs can deliver such timing with a precision of 30 picoseconds. What's more, these detectors are silicon based and thus can be very thin, possibly situated relatively close to the beam line without having too much of an effect on detectors that are mounted further away.

A Rice Media press release can be found at this link.