AstroPix: investigating the potential of silicon pixel sensors in the future of gamma-ray astrophysics

Regina Caputo; Jeremy S. Perkins; Carolyn A. Kierans; Jessica Metcalfe; Ivan Peric; Jacob R. Smith; Julie E. McEnery; John W. Mitchell; David R. Durachka; Mathieu Benoit; Isabella S. Brewer; Richard Leys

doi:10.1117/12.2562327

14 December 2020 AstroPix: investigating the potential of silicon pixel sensors in the future of gamma-ray astrophysics

Regina Caputo, Jeremy S. Perkins, Carolyn A. Kierans, Jessica Metcalfe, Ivan Peric, Jacob R. Smith, Julie E. McEnery, John W. Mitchell, David R. Durachka, Mathieu Benoit, Isabella S. Brewer, Richard Leys

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 11444, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2020: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray; 114442Q (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2562327
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2020, Online Only

Abstract

This paper details preliminary photon measurements with the monolithic silicon detector ATLASPix, a pixel detector built and optimized for the CERN experiment ATLAS. The goal of this paper is to determine the promise of pixelated silicon in future space-based gamma-ray experiments. With this goal in mind, radioactive photon sources were used to determine the energy resolution and detector response of ATLASPix; these are novel measurements for ATLASPix, a detector built for a ground-based particle accelerator. As part of this project a new iteration of monolithic Si pixels, named AstroPix, have been created based on ATLASPix, and the eventual goal is to further optimize AstroPix for gamma-ray detection by constructing a prototype Compton telescope. The energy resolution of both the digital and analog output of ATLASPix is the focus of this paper, as it is a critical metric for Compton telescopes. It was found that with the analog output of the detector, the energy resolution of a single pixel was 7.69 ± 0.13% at 5.89 keV and 7.27 ± 1.18% at 30.1 keV, which exceeds the conservative baseline requirements of 10% resolution at 60 keV and is an encouraging start to an optimistic goal of <2% resolution at 60 keV. The digital output of the entire detector consistently yielded energy resolutions that exceeded 100% for different sources. The analog output of the monolithic silicon pixels indicates that this is a promising technology for future gamma-ray missions, while the analysis of the digital output points to the need for a redesign of future photon-sensitive monolithic silicon pixel detectors.

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Regina Caputo, Jeremy S. Perkins, Carolyn A. Kierans, Jessica Metcalfe, Ivan Peric, Jacob R. Smith, Julie E. McEnery, John W. Mitchell, David R. Durachka, Mathieu Benoit, Isabella S. Brewer, and Richard Leys "AstroPix: investigating the potential of silicon pixel sensors in the future of gamma-ray astrophysics", Proc. SPIE 11444, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2020: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, 114442Q (14 December 2020); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2562327

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