On July 10th a Single Photon Detection Workshop at ALBA, the Spanish synchrotron source, took place as a side meeting to the last SENSE workshop hosted by ALBA. Aim of the workshop was to identify the key detector technologies available in the Barcelona area, understand the detection needs of this community, understand their scientific background, and connect this community with the SENSE community providing ultimately new opportunities for research by developing enabling detector technology.
“When I moved from the USA to Barcelona, I was realizing how rich the science environment of Spain is and which unique detector development capabilities exist in this community. With this workshop I hoped to contribute and to stimulate an exchange in the Spanish community and get them in touch with the idea of SENSE” stated Klaus Attenkofer, Scientific Director of the ALBA synchrotron. Although the workshop was announced short termed about 20 participants from different institutions and a multidisciplinary scientific field, including high energy physics, astrophysics, synchrotron-based sciences, quantum informatics, and material sciences followed the invitation to participate in the workshop.
After an overview of the SENSE project and the outcome of the workshop the day before, Prof. Manuel Lozano (IMB-CNM), Mokhtar Chmeissani (IFAE), and Lourdes Fabrega (ICMAB-CSIC) provided an overview about their institutes, their detector projects and capabilities. The analysis was completed by an update on the major SENSE recommendations on SiPM and single photon detection with vacuum devices. An overview and the agenda with the talks can be found at https://indico.cells.es/event/213/. Currently, the group is discussing options to create moderate size pilot projects, most likely anchored around PhD students, which will allow to build platforms for specific detector projects in the future.