New avalanche photo diode readout of the Crystal-Barrel-Experiment at ELSA

The Crystal-Barrel-Experiment at ELSA in Bonn is a photo production experiment in hadron spectroscopy. The setup features nearly 4π-coverage with electromagnetic calorimeters and is optimized for the detection of multi-photon final states to measure double polarization observables. One main aspect of the upcoming upgrades of the Crystal Barrel Experiment is concerned with extending the 1st level trigger capability from the forward direction to the whole calorimeter. This step will significantly widen the trigger acceptance for neutral reaction channels and substantially help to suppress electromagnetic background. Currently several different approaches are evaluated one of which is a new readout via avalanche photo diodes (APDs). In this approach a dual readout is the favoured solution. One readout branch provides a fast timing signal for trigger decisions while the other branch is optimized for energy resolution. The energy branch is fed into a flash ADC for digital feature extraction. In this talk the current status and first results from a test beam time are presented.