KATANA (Kraków Array for Triggering with Amplitude DiscrimiNAtion) is a triggering and VETO detector, built for the experimental setup of the S\(\pi\)RIT TPC experiment at RIKEN (grants No NCN UMO-2013/09/B/ST2/04064 and UMO-2013/10/M/ST2/00624). It consists of several, vertical scintillation plastics with dimensions of 10×40 cm 2 each, from which the light is collected by photodiodes. The three central detectors are 1 mm thick and constitute the VETO detector. The remaining ones, 1 cm thick, provide a multiplicity trigger signal.
The design of the detector allows it to work in a magnetic field and provides a quick response to ionizing particles, giving their approximate multiplicity and information about the charge. The VETO signal, generated only by heavy ions, protects the TPC ionization chamber against excessive ionization with heavy reaction products. Thanks to this, the KATANA system selects central and semi-central collisions.