Abstract
The SHiP experiment is a new general purpose fixed target experiment proposed at the CERN SPS accelerator. A dedicated beam line in the North Area will be aimed at a fixed target station, followed by a magnetic shield to reduce beam induced background. The experiment will comprise a compact tau neutrino detector and a detector to search for hidden particles. Background rejection is ensured by use of background taggers and a dedicated timing detector. The timing detector will reduce combinatorial di-muon background by requiring incoming particles to be coincident in time within 100 ps. One option for the timing detector consists of columns of horizontal scintillating bars read-out on each end by Silicon Photomultiplier arrays. This study includes characterization of SiPMs from different manufacturers to be used in the timing detector in terms of Current-Voltage behavior, cross-talk probability, dark count rate and single photon timing resolution. Initial results of the time resolution of a EJ-200 scintillating bar read out on both ends by a single SiPM are presented.