Characterization of the radiation field in ATLAS using Timepix detectors

The work presented in this thesis focuses on the ATLAS-TPX pixel detector network, installed in the ATLAS experiment for studying the radiation environment using the Timepix technology. The achievements are presented in two parts, on one hand the analysis of data acquired between 2015 and 2018, on another hand the study of new detectors for an upgrade of the network. In the first part, a method to extract properties of MIPs (Minimum Ionizing Particles) is developed, based on the analysis of clusters left by the interaction of these particles in the pixel matrixes of the ATLAS-TPX detectors. It is shown that the direction of MIPs and their energy loss (dE/dX) can be determined, allowing the evaluation of their origin. Moreover, the method for mesuring the thermal and fast neutron fields is explained, and applied to the data. The thermal neutron fluxes at the different detector locations are reported, whereas the fast neutron signal cannot be distingished from the background. Thoses results are described in a publication, and their use for benchmarking simulations of the radiation field in ATLAS is discussed. In the second part, the thesis presents a study of Timepix detectors equipped with gallium arsenide (GaAs) and cadmium telluride (CdTe) sensors. These semiconductors offer some advantages over silicon and could be used for upgrades of the ATLAS- TPX network. Since they are known to suffer from time instabilities and incomplete charge collection efficiency, they are tested using several types of irradiation. This is described in two publications, one focusing on a 500μm thick GaAs sensor, another focusing on a 1mm thick CdTe sensor. Despite the appearance of noisy pixels during the measurements, the detectors are found to be reasonably stable in time. However, the charge collection efficiency is found to be inhomogeneous across the sensor surfaces, with significant fluctuations of mobility-lifetime (μτ) products. These results show that it is necessary to study the influence of these material defects on the pattern recognition algorithms before the integration of such sensors in the ATLAS-TPX upgrades.