Prototype tests for a highly granular scintillator-based hadronic calorimeter

Abstract: Within the CALICE collaboration, several concepts for the hadronic calorimeter of a future lepton collider detector are studied. After having demonstrated the capabilities of the measurement methods in "physics prototypes", the focus now lies on improving their implementation in "technological prototypes", that are scalable to the full linear collider detector. The Analogue Hadronic Calorimeter (AHCAL) concept is a sampling calorimeter of tungsten or steel absorber plates and plastic scintillator tiles read out by silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) as active components. The front-end electronics is fully integrated into the active layers of the calorimeter and is designed for minimal power consumption (i.e. power pulsing). The versatile electronics enables the prototype to be equipped with different types of scintillator tiles and SiPMs. In recent beam tests, a prototype with $\sim$3700 channels, equipped with several types of scintillator tiles and SiPMs, was exposed to electron, muon and hadron beams. The experience of these beam tests resulted in an optimal detector design with surface-mounted SiPMs suitable for the automated mass assembly. The proceeding will cover topics including the testbeam measurements with the AHCAL technological prototype, the improved detector design and the ongoing development of a large prototype for hadronic showers.