Yesterday, on May 15th 2025, we had our Critical Design Review. After 20 minutes of information packed presentation by us we had a discussion about our design, requirements and general SED content.
During the presentation we showed around our preamplifier, ADC and NMRENA boards which represent the signal flow from the detector to the SD Card. We also presented the wrapped BGO scintillation crystal in its holder, complete with the mounting mechanism of the photodiodes that go on top and below the BGO holder. Here, the board gave some input on possible design improvements for easier and more light-weight fabication and mounting. After the review the experts said that they were happy to see the progress we made in real life instead of just pictures on a slide.
The board critisised our thermal design requesting more information and more calculations. However the overall progress of the project seemed to be satisfactory for the reviewers and we get to go ahead with finishing up fabrication and moving on to sub-system wise integrating and testing of our parts.
Today it’s time to say “Goodbye, CDR!” and head home. We are set to arrive in Kiel at 17:22 after traveling via Amsterdam and Osnabrück.