Characteristics of a prototype matrix of Silicon PhotoMultipliers (SiPM)

International audienceThis work reports on the electrical (static and dynamic) as well as on the optical characteristics of a prototype matrix of Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPM). The prototype matrix consists of 4 × 4 SiPM's on the same substrat fabricated at FBK-irst (Trento, Italy). Each SiPM of the matrix has an area of 1 × 1mm2 and it is composed of 625 microcells connected in parallel. Each microcell of the SiPM is a GM-APD (n+/p junction on P+ substrate) with an area of 40 × 40 μm2 connected in series with its integrated polysilicon quenching resistance. The static characteristics as breakdown voltage, quenching resistance, post-breakdown dark current as well as the dynamic characteristics as gain and dark count rate have been analysed. The photon detection efficiency as a function of wavelength and operation voltage has been also estimated

An evaluation of the exposure in nadir observation of the JEM-EUSO mission

We evaluate the exposure during nadir observations with JEM-EUSO, the Extreme Universe Space Observatory,on-board the Japanese Experiment Module of the International Space Station. Designed as a mission to explore the extreme energy Universe from space, JEM-EUSO will monitor the Earth's nighttime atmosphere to record the ultraviolet light from tracks generated by extensive air showers initiated by ultra-high energy cosmic rays. In the present work, we discuss the particularities of space-based observation and we compute the annual exposure in nadir observation. The results are based on studies of the expected trigger aperture and observational duty cycle, as well as, on the investigations of the effects of clouds and different types of background light. We show that the annual exposure is about one order of magnitude higher than those of the presently operating ground-based observatories.Fil: Adams, J. H.. University of Alabama in Huntsville; Estados UnidosFil: Ahmad, S.. Universite Paris Sud; FranciaFil: Albert, J. N..Fil: Allard, D.. Universite Paris Diderot - Paris 7; FranciaFil: Ambrosio, M.. Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare; ItaliaFil: Anchordoqui, L.. Medical College Of Wisconsin; Estados UnidosFil: Anzalone, A.. INAF; ItaliaFil: Arai, Y.. High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK); JapónFil: Aramo, C..Fil: Asano, K.. Interactive Research Center of Science, Tokyo Institute of Technology; JapónFil: Ave, M.. Universidad de Santiago de Compostela; EspañaFil: Barrillon, P.. Universite de Paris; FranciaFil: Batsch, T.. National Centre for Nuclear Research; PoloniaFil: Bayer, J.. University of Tubingen; AlemaniaFil: Belenguer, T.. j Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (INTA); EspañaFil: Bellotti, R.. Universita’ degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro and INFN; ItaliaFil: Berlind, A. A.. Vanderbilt University; Estados UnidosFil: Bertaina, M.. Universita di Torino; ItaliaFil: Biermann, P. L.. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT); AlemaniaFil: Biktemerova,. Joint Institute for Nuclear Research; RusiaFil: Blaksley, C.. Universite de la Sorbona Nouvelle; FranciaFil: Blecki, J.. Space Research Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences (CBK); PoloniaFil: Blin-Bondil, S.. Universite de Paris; FranciaFil: Blumer, J.. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT),; AlemaniaFil: Bobik, P.. Institute of Experimental Physics; EslovaquiaFil: Bogomilov, M.. St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia; BulgariaFil: Bonamente, M.. University of Alabama in Huntsville; Estados UnidosFil: Briz, S.. Universidad Carlos III de Madrid,; EspañaFil: Supanitsky, Alberto Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciónes Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio. - Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio; Argentin

Science of atmospheric phenomena with JEM-EUSO

The main goal of the JEM-EUSO experiment is the study of Ultra HighEnergy Cosmic Rays (UHECR, 10^19 - 10^21 eV ), but the method which will be used (detection of the secondary light emissions induced by cosmic rays in the atmosphere) allows to study other luminous phenomena. The UHECRs will be detected through the measurement of the emission in the range between 290 and 430 m, where some part of Transient Luminous Events (TLEs) emission also appears. This work discusses the possibility of using the JEM-EUSO Telescope to get new scientific results on TLEs. The high time resolution of this instrument allows to observe the evolution of TLEs with great precision just at the moment of their origin. Thepaper consists of four parts: review of the present knowledge on the TLE, presentation of the results of the simulations of the TLE images in the JEM-EUSO telescope, results of the Russian experiment Tatiana-2 and discussion of the possible progress achievable in this field with JEM-EUSO as well as possible cooperation with other space projects devoted to the study of TLE-TARANIS and ASIM. In atmospheric physics, the study of TLEs became one of the main physical subjects of interest after their discovery in 1989. In the years 1992 - 1994 detection was performed fromsatellite, aircraft and space shuttle and recently from the International Space Station. These events have short duration (milliseconds) and small scales (km to tens of km) and appear at altitudes 50 - 100 km. Their nature is still not clear and each new experimental data can be useful for a better understanding of these mysterious phenomena.Fil: Adams, J. H.. University of Alabama in Huntsville; Estados UnidosFil: Ahmad, S.. Ecole Polytechnique; FranciaFil: Albert, J. N.. Univ Paris-Sud; FranciaFil: Allard, D.. Univ Paris Diderot; FranciaFil: Anchordoqui, L.. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Estados UnidosFil: Andreev, V.. University of California; Estados UnidosFil: Anzalone, A.. INAF - Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica di Palermo; ItaliaFil: Arai, Y.. High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK); JapónFil: Asano, K.. Tokyo Institute of Technology; JapónFil: Ave Pernas, M.. Universidad de Alcala (UAH); EspañaFil: Barrillon, P.. Univ Paris-Sud; FranciaFil: Batsch, T.. Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics; RusiaFil: Bayer, J.. University of Tubingen; AlemaniaFil: Bechini, R.. Universita’ di Torino; ItaliaFil: Belenguer, T.. Instituto Nacional de Tecnica Aeroespacial (INTA); EspañaFil: Bellotti, R.. Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare; ItaliaFil: Belov, K.. University of California; Estados UnidosFil: Berlind, A. A.. Vanderbilt University; Estados UnidosFil: Bertaina, M.. Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare; ItaliaFil: Biermann, P. L.. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT); AlemaniaFil: Biktemerova, S.. Joint Institute for Nuclear Research; RusiaFil: Blaksley, C.. Univ Paris Diderot; FranciaFil: Blanc, N.. Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM); SuizaFil: Blecki, J.. Space Research Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences (CBK; PoloniaFil: Blin-Bondil, S.. Ecole Polytechnique; FranciaFil: Blumer, J.. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT),; AlemaniaFil: Bobik, P.. Institute of Experimental Physics; EslovaquiaFil: Bogomilov, M.. University of Sofia; BulgariaFil: Bonamente, M.. University of Alabama in Huntsville; Estados UnidosFil: Supanitsky, Alberto Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciónes Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio. - Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio; ArgentinaFil: The JEM-EUSO Collaboration

Global Description of EUSO-Balloon Instrument

For the JEM-EUSO CollaborationThe EUSO-Balloon is a pathfinder of the JEM-EUSO mission, designed to be installed on-board the International Space Station before the end of this decade. The EUSO-Balloon instrument, conceived as a scaleddown version of the main mission, is currently developed as a payload of a stratospheric balloon operated by CNES, and will, most likely, be launched during the CNES flight campaign in 2014. Several key elements of JEM-EUSO have been implemented in the EUSO-Balloon. The instrument consists of an UV telescope, made of three Fresnel lenses, designed to focus the signal of the UV tracks, generated by highly energetic cosmic rays propagating in the earth's atmosphere, onto a finely pixelized UV camera. In this contribution, we review the main stages of the signal processing of the EUSO-Balloon instrument: the photodetection, the analog electronics, the trigger stages, which select events while rejecting random background, the acquisition system performing data storage and the monitoring, which allows the instrument control during operation

The UFFO (Ultra Fast Flash Observatory) Pathfinder: Science and Mission

Hundreds of gamma-ray burst (GRB) optical light curves have been measured since the discovery of optical afterglows. However, even after nearly 7 years of operation of the Swift Observatory, only a handful of measurements have been made soon (within a minute) after the gamma ray signal. This lack of early observations fails to address burst physics at short time scales associated with prompt emissions and progenitors. Because of this lack of sub-minute data, the characteristics of the rise phase of optical light curve of short-hard type GRB and rapid-rising GRB, which may account for ~30% of all GRB, remain practically unknown. We have developed methods for reaching sub-minute and sub-second timescales in a small spacecraft observatory. Rather than slewing the entire spacecraft to aim the optical instrument at the GRB position, we use rapidly moving mirror to redirect our optical beam. As a first step, we employ motorized slewing mirror telescope (SMT), which can point to the event within 1s, in the UFFO Pathfinder GRB Telescope onboard the Lomonosov satellite to be launched in Nov. 2011. UFFO's sub-minute measurements of the optical emission of dozens of GRB each year will result in a more rigorous test of current internal shock models, probe the extremes of bulk Lorentz factors, provide the first early and detailed measurements of fast-rise GRB optical light curves, and help verify the prospect of GRB as a new standard candle. We will describe the science and the mission of the current UFFO Pathfinder project, and our plan of a full-scale UFFO-100 as the next step.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, to appear in the 32nd International Conference on Cosmic Rays (ICRC), Beijing, August 11-18, 201

Pre-flight qualification tests of the Mini-EUSO telescope engineering model

International audienceMini-EUSO is part of the JEM-EUSO program and operates on board the International Space Station (ISS). It is a UV-telescope with single-photon counting capability looking at nighttime downwards to the Earth through a nadir-facing UV-transparent window. As part of the pre-flight tests, the Mini-EUSO engineering model, a telescope with 1/9 of the original focal surface and a lens of 2.5 cm diameter, has been built and tested. Tests of the Mini-EUSO engineering model have been made in laboratory and in open-sky conditions. Laboratory tests have been performed at the TurLab facility, located at the Physics Department of the University of Turin, equipped with a rotating tank containing different types of materials and light sources. In this way, the configuration for the observation of the Earth from space was emulated, including the Mini-EUSO trigger schemes. In addition to the qualification and calibration tests, the Mini-EUSO engineering model has also been used to evaluate the possibility of using a JEM-EUSO-type detector for applications such as observation of space debris. Furthermore, observations in open-sky conditions allowed the studies of natural light sources such as stars, meteors, planets, and artificial light sources such as airplanes, satellites reflecting the sunlight, and city lights. Most of these targets could be detected also with Mini-EUSO. In this paper, the tests in laboratory and in open-sky conditions are reported, as well as the obtained results. In addition, the contribution that such tests provided to foresee and improve the performance of Mini-EUSO on board the ISS is discussed

Mini-EUSO experiment to study UV emission of terrestrial and astrophysical origin onboard of the International Space Station

International audienceMini-EUSO will observe the Earth in the UV range (300 - 400 nm) offering the opportunity to study a variety of atmospheric events such as Transient LuminousEvents (TLEs), meteors and marine bioluminescence. Furthermore it aims to search for Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR) above $10^{21}$ eV and Strange Quark Matter (SQM).The detector is expected to be launched to the International Space Station in August 2019 and look at the Earth in nadir mode from the UV-transparent window of the Zvezda module of the International Space Station. The instrument comprises a compact telescope with a large field of view ($44^{\circ}$), based on an optical system employing two Fresnel lenses for lightcollection. The light is focused onto an array of 36 multi-anode photomultiplier tubes (MAPMT), for a total of 2304 pixels and the resulting signal is converted into digital, processed and stored viathe electronics subsystems on-board. In addition to the main detector, Mini-EUSO contains two ancillary cameras for complementary measurements in the near infrared (1500 - 1600 nm) and visible (400 - 780 nm) range and also a $8 \times 8$ SiPM imaging array

First events from the CNGS neutrino beam detected in the OPERA experiment

The OPERA neutrino detector at the underground Gran Sasso Laboratory (LNGS) was designed to perform the first detection of neutrino oscillations in appearance mode, through the study of nu_mu to nu_tau oscillations. The apparatus consists of a lead/emulsion-film target complemented by electronic detectors. It is placed in the high-energy, long-baseline CERN to LNGS beam (CNGS) 730 km away from the neutrino source. In August 2006 a first run with CNGS neutrinos was successfully conducted. A first sample of neutrino events was collected, statistically consistent with the integrated beam intensity. After a brief description of the beam and of the various sub-detectors, we report on the achievement of this milestone, presenting the first data and some analysis results.Comment: Submitted to the New Journal of Physic