Description
The 4DPHOTON project is a project funded by the European Research Council (ERC) and coordinated by INFN in collaboration with the University of Ferrara and CERN. The project aims to develop a novel large-area photodetector sensitive to single photons with unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution. The detector is designed to handle photon rates approaching 1 billion of hits over its area of few square centimeters while measuring position and time of arrival of each photon with a spatial resolution better than 10 μm and a sub-hundred ps time resolution.
The 4DPHOTON detector is based on a hybrid architecture combining a high-quantum-efficiency photocathode, a microchannel plate (MCP) amplification stage, and a pixelated CMOS digital readout anode embedding the Timepix4 ASIC. The Timepix4 chip, fabricated in 65 nm CMOS technology, is an array of 512x448 pixels distributed on a 55 μm square pitch over a sensitive area of $\sim$7 cm$^2$. Each pixel integrates analog and digital-front-end electronics, enabling continuous data-driven acquisitions supporting data transmission rates up to 160Gb/s. Detector readout and configuration are both managed by an external FPGA-based data acquisition board.
The capability of the 4DPHOTON detector to provide simultaneous information on the three spatial coordinates and time represents a breakthrough for light imaging applications constrained by the lack of precise 4-dimensional information. In particular the compactness, rate capability, time resolution and high granularity of the detector can pave the way for a new generation of RICH (Ring Imaging Cherenkov) detectors in high-energy physics, allowing a high efficiency particle identification performance in high photon flux environments. Additionally, the detector also has the potential of opening new research paths in life sciences, quantum optics, fluorescence lifetime imaging, and other emerging fields requiring precise single-photon measurements.