Timepix3 Readout System For Time Resolved Experiments At Synchrotron Radiation Facilities

Demand for time resolved experiments, of which the time information related to the detected events is an essential requirement, is rapidly increasing in synchrotron research experiments.Timepix3 is a read-out chip for pixelated detectors that places a time stamp to every detected event with a nominal resolution of 1.5625 ns and provides a measure of the energy of the same event by the Time over Threshold technique. Timepix3 can then be a promising readout chip for time resolved experiments.A prototype of a Timepix3 readout system, based on a modified version of the MERLIN readout system, has already been developed by the detector group of Diamond Light Source (DLS). This prototype was used to run a set of characterization measurements using synchrotron radiation with the Timepix3 chip.The results of the characterization measurements proposed additional modifications to optimize the Timepix3 detector system to be used for time resolved experiments. The Timepix3 detector system needs to allow longer measurable time period for the Time of Arrival since it is limited by the small amount of bits dedicated. There is a need as well for locking the clock of the readout system to the source clock in order to avoid beats due to independent frequencies and track eventual deviations from nominal clock values.Development on the readout system, mainly on the FPGA firmware, has been carried out in order to increase the number of bits dedicated to the Time of Arrival. The possibility to synchronize the detector system using external clock was added.