51 research outputs found
A setup for soft proton irradiation of X-ray detectors for future astronomical space missions
Protons that are trapped in the Earth's magnetic field are one of the main
threats to astronomical X-ray observatories. Soft protons, in the range from
tens of keV up to a few MeV, impinging on silicon X-ray detectors can lead to a
significant degradation of the detector performance. Especially in low earth
orbits an enhancement of the soft proton flux has been found. A setup to
irradiate detectors with soft protons has been constructed at the Van-de-Graaff
accelerator of the Physikalisches Institut of the University of T\"ubingen. Key
advantages are a high flux uniformity over a large area, to enable irradiations
of large detectors, and a monitoring system for the applied fluence, the beam
uniformity, and the spectrum, that allows testing of detector prototypes in
early development phases, when readout electronics are not yet available. Two
irradiation campaigns have been performed so far with this setup. The
irradiated detectors are silicon drift detectors, designated for the use
on-board the LOFT space mission. This paper gives a description of the
experimental setup and the associated monitoring system.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures, 4 table
First results of a novel Silicon Drift Detector array designed for low energy X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy
We developed a trapezoidal shaped matrix with 8 cells of Silicon Drift Detectors (SDD) featuring a very low leakage current (below 180 pA/cm2 at 20 \ub0C) and a shallow uniformly implanted p+ entrance window that enables sensitivity down to few hundreds of eV. The matrix consists of a completely depleted volume of silicon wafer subdivided into 4 square cells and 4 half-size triangular cells. The energy resolution of a single square cell, readout by the ultra-low noise SIRIO charge sensitive preamplifier, is 158 eV FWHM at 5.9 keV and 0 \ub0C. The total sensitive area of the matrix is 231 mm2 and the wafer thickness is 450\u3bcm. The detector was developed in the frame of the INFN R&D project ReDSoX in collaboration with FBK, Trento. Its trapezoidal shape was chosen in order to optimize the detection geometry for the experimental requirements of low energy X-ray fluorescence (LEXRF) spectroscopy, aiming at achieving a large detection angle. We plan to exploit the complete detector at the TwinMic spectromicroscopy beamline at the Elettra Synchrotron (Trieste, Italy). The complete system, composed of 4 matrices, increases the solid angle coverage of the isotropic photoemission hemisphere about 4 times over the present detector configuration. We report on the layout of the SDD matrix and of the experimental set-up, as well as the spectroscopic performance measured both in the laboratory and at the experimental beamline. \ua9 2015 Elsevier B.V
Large-area Si(Li) Detectors for X-ray Spectrometry and Particle Tracking for the GAPS Experiment
Large-area lithium-drifted silicon (Si(Li)) detectors, operable 150{\deg}C
above liquid nitrogen temperature, have been developed for the General
Antiparticle Spectrometer (GAPS) balloon mission and will form the first such
system to operate in space. These 10 cm-diameter, 2.5 mm-thick multi-strip
detectors have been verified in the lab to provide <4 keV FWHM energy
resolution for X-rays as well as tracking capability for charged particles,
while operating in conditions (~-40{\deg}C and ~1 Pa) achievable on a
long-duration balloon mission with a large detector payload. These
characteristics enable the GAPS silicon tracker system to identify cosmic
antinuclei via a novel technique based on exotic atom formation, de-excitation,
and annihilation. Production and large-scale calibration of ~1000 detectors has
begun for the first GAPS flight, scheduled for late 2021. The detectors
developed for GAPS may also have other applications, for example in heavy
nuclei identification
PixDD: a multi-pixel silicon drift detector for high-throughput spectral-timing studies
The Pixelated silicon Drift Detector (PixDD) is a two-dimensional multi-pixel X-ray sensor based on the technology of Silicon Drift Detectors, designed to solve the dead time and pile-up issues of photon-integrating imaging detectors. Read out by a two-dimensional self-triggering Application-Specific Integrated Circuit named RIGEL, to which the sensor is bump-bonded, it operates in the 0:5 — 15 keV energy range and is designed to achieve single-photon sensitivity and good spectroscopic capabilities even at room temperature or with mild cooling (< 150 eV resolution at 6 keV at 0 °C). The paper reports on the design and performance tests of the 128-pixel prototype of the fully integrated system
The large area detector onboard the eXTP mission
The Large Area Detector (LAD) is the high-throughput, spectral-timing instrument onboard the eXTP mission, a flagship
mission of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the China National Space Administration, with a large European
participation coordinated by Italy and Spain. The eXTP mission is currently performing its phase B study, with a target
launch at the end-2027. The eXTP scientific payload includes four instruments (SFA, PFA, LAD and WFM) offering
unprecedented simultaneous wide-band X-ray timing and polarimetry sensitivity. The LAD instrument is based on the
design originally proposed for the LOFT mission. It envisages a deployed 3.2 m2 effective area in the 2-30 keV energy
range, achieved through the technology of the large-area Silicon Drift Detectors - offering a spectral resolution of up to
200 eV FWHM at 6 keV - and of capillary plate collimators - limiting the field of view to about 1 degree. In this paper
we will provide an overview of the LAD instrument design, its current status of development and anticipated
performance
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