ATLAS Tracker Upgrade

The High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC), due to start in 2030, is an important upgrade to the LHC, designed to significantly enhance its capabilities. It aims to increase the luminosity of pp collisions by a factor of 10, allowing us to study the interactions of the Higgs boson, extend our search for dark matter and exotic physics and to make new precision SM measurements. To capitalise on this new data, the aging tracking detector of ATLAS will be upgraded by a new all-silicon tracking detector known as the ITk. The ITk will provide high-precision tracking of charged particles at an increased data rate and over a greater angular range, whilst withstanding the high radiation environment.

The ITk consists of 4 barrel layers and 12 disks of strip modules, and 5 layers of pixel modules.  Liverpool has been involved from the earliest design of the overall layout, playing key roles in the detailed module and structure design.  Production and testing of vital parts is ongoing in the LSDC, with strip hybrid reception testing, pixel and strip module assembly, carbon fibre structure manufacture (in the Advanced Material Laboratory of the LSDC) and preparations for the integration of one pixel outer endcap.  This work involves detailed mechanical assembly and electrical testing at various stages to ensure the quality of the detector produced. 

Modules 

  • Reception testing 10,000 strip hybrids, designed in Liverpool and produced in industry.
  • The testing and wirebonding of 3000 hybrids after ASIC loading
  • Assembly and electrical testing of ~580 strip barrel modules
  • Assembly and electrical testing of ~500 pixel modules

Support Structures

  • Production of 100 strip barrel stave cores
  • Production and dressing of 6 carbon-fibre half cylinders, ready for cooling and electrical services and carbon fibre half rings with pixel modules mounted on them. 

Integration

  • The tooling and test infrastructure to assemble one complete pixel endcap detector.
  • The assembly of one pixel endcap detector. 

ATLAS Upgrade PI 

  • Dr Helen Hayward  

Research and Technical Staff 

  • Mr Liam Boynton  
  • Ms Queiroga Bazetto
  • Mr Matthew Brown 
  • Mr Andy Bukowski 
  • Mr John Carroll 
  • Mr James Coleman-Mills 
  • Dr Paul Dervan 
  • Mr Ashely Greenall 
  • Dr Tim Jones 
  • Mr Warren Jones  
  • Mr Dave Sim
  • Mr Tony Smith 
  • Dr Jon Taylor 
  • Mr Alex Tongue 
  • Dr David Vasquez Furelos  
  • Mr Tony Watling
  • Dr Sven Wonsak 

Academic Staff 

  • Dr Sergey Burdin 
    Dr Jan Kretzschmar 
    Prof Carl Gwilliam 

PhD Students 

  • Mr Stephen Randles 

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