Application of a double-sided silicon-strip detector as a differential pumping barrier for NESR experiments at FAIR

The presented work focuses on the development of a differential pumping system using double-sided silicon-strip detectors to separate the ultra-high vacuum of a storage ring from subsequent detectors and outgassing components placed in an auxiliary vacuum. Such a technical concept will give the opportunity to use telescope-like detector systems in an ultra-high vacuum environment, such as a storage ring, without enclosing the entire system in a pocket. Therefore, it will enable the detection of recoil particles with the smallest possible energy due to the use of the innermost strip detector as an active window. Our results prove that such an assembly is feasible without having an effect, within experimental errors, on the performance of the strip detector. Vacuum separation better than six orders of magnitude was achieved with the ultra-high vacuum side reaching down to the 10(-10) mbar pressure region. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.