Construction and performance test of charged particle detector array for MATE

Abstract: A charged particle array, named MATE-PA, which serves as an auxiliary detec#2;tor system to the Multi-purpose Active-target Time projection chamber for nuclear astrophysical and exotic beam Experiments (MATE) has been con#2;structed. The array is composed of twenty single-sided strip-silicon detectors, covering around 10% of the solid angle. It is dedicated for the detection of reaction-induced charged particles which penetrate the MATE active volume. The performance of MATE-PA has been experimentally studied using an alpha source, and a 36-MeV 14N beam injected into the chamber of MATE, filled with a mixture gas of 95% 4He and 5% CO2 under the pressure of 500 mbar, at the Radioactive Ion Beam Line in Lanzhou (RIBLL). The results demonstrate good separation of light charged particles with the forward double-layer silicon detectors of MATE-PA. The energy resolution of the Si detectors was deduced to be about 1% (σ) for an energy loss of about 10 MeV by the α particles. The inclusion of MATE-PA helps improve particle identification, and increases the dynamic range for the kinetic energy of charged particles, in particular that of α particles up to about 15 MeV.