TA-CON-2020-011

The PANDA experiment of the FAIR facility will address open
questions in hadron physics using antiproton beams in the
momentum range of 1.5-15 GeV/c.
The antiprotons are stored and cooled in the High Energy
Storage Ring (HESR) and allow high precision spectroscopy in
the energy range of closed and open charm.
Two Cherenkov detectors using the principle of Detection of
Internally Reflected Cherenkov light (DIRC) will provide
excellent PID in the PANDA target spectrometer.
The Endcap Disc DIRC separates pions from kaons better than
3σ up to momenta of 4 GeV/c in the forward direction, for polar
angles from 5∘ to 22∘.
It uses a fused silica radiator disk, consisting of four
optically isolated quadrants.
The Cherenkov photons are imaged on Microchannel-Plate PMTs
(MCP-PMTs) by focusing lightguides.
The Barrel DIRC cleanly separates pions from kaons for polar
angles in the range of 22∘ - 140∘ and momenta up to 3.5 GeV/c.
The barrel is formed by 16 sectors, each comprising three narrow
fused silica radiator bars, with a flat mirror attached to
one end and a spherical lens attached to the other, and a
large fuse silica prism, coupled to each group of three lenses.
The Cherenkov light is focused on the back side of the prism,
where an array of lifetime-enhanced MCP-PMTs detects the photons.

The designs are simulated and validated in test beams with
prototypes and the Technical Design Reports of both devices
have recently been completed.
While mass production of some of the components has already
started, the R&D for other important items, like the readout
electronics or the shape and materials of the mechanical support,
is still ongoing.
This talk describes the status of the two DIRC projects and will
discuss the remaining R&D activities.