The cryogenic performances of specific optical and electrical components for a liquid argon time projection chamber

In this paper we present a cryogenic performance study of specific optical and electrical components for the Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC), a potential far site detector technology of the long baseline neutrino experiment (LBNE). We have confirmed that an LVDS driver can drive a 20-meter CAT5E twisted pair up to 1 gigabit per second at liquid nitrogen temperature (77 K). We have verified that a 16:1 serializer Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), three types of laser diodes, optical fibers and connectors, and field-programming gate arrays (FPGAs) continue to function at 77 K. A variety of commercial resistors and capacitors have been tested at 77 K. All tests we have conducted show that the cold front-end electronics is promising. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V. Selection and/or peer review under responsibility of the organizing committee for TIPP 11.