| As parity-violating electron scattering (PVeS) experiments continue to pushthe frontiers of precision electro-weak asymmetry measurements, the demandson the experimental techniques and apparatus are also pushed. In particular,the need for higher resolution and radiation-hardness of the main integratingdetectors has increased over the successive generations of PVeS experiments.The demand for precise measurement of GHz event rates has pushed the fieldtoward the use of thin quartz Cerenkov light based detectors. We have beendesigning and testing such thin quartz detectors specifically for the upcomingexperiments at Jefferson Lab, PREX-II and CREX, but this work also greatlyinfluences the detector development for several future experiments includingMOLLER at Jefferson Lab. These are all PVeS experiments that will use thenew thin quartz Cerenkov detector design concept for their main asymmetrymeasurements (as well as for beam monitoring). The new design concept givesnot only significant performance improvements compared to its predecessorfrom PREX-I, but also we have now thoroughly characterized its operationaldesign and performance using a combination of test-beam data and detailedparticle and optical Monte Carlo Geant4 simulations. These activities haveculminated in the development and implementation of a ”bench-marked” MonteCarlo package, QSIM, which constitutes a powerful design tool for presentand future PVeS quartz detectors. The benchmarked simulation can replicatereal photoelectron distributions (RMS and Mean) from testbeam data with∼5% precision–limited mainly by the systematic uncertainty of the PMT gainmeasurements.Key Words: Cerenkov Detector, thin quartz detector, QSIM. |