Silicon photomultipliers: characterization and application to fluorescence flucturation spectroscopy.

This thesis originates from and develops around Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs): starting from a description of the working principles of these devices, this work presents a review on this technology and on some of its possible applications. The great part of this work took place within the framework of an international scientific and industrial collaboration (RAPSODI1, a project funded by the European Commetee), with the aim of developing three radiation detectors using the SiPM technology; in order to find the optimal sensor for each application, an exhaustive protocol to provide a characterization of the performances of the main SiPM parameters (gain, photo-detection efficiency, dark count rate, optical cross-talk, breakdown voltage dependence from temperature) has been provided. In order to further improve the knowledge on Silicon PhotoMultipliers, a phenomenological model describing the statistics of Geiger-M\ufcller avalanches for impinging photons with known probability distribution has been elaborated: this model takes into account the contribution given by the thermally generated avalanches and by the cross-talk, thus providing a model for the SiPM deviations from the ideal bernoullian detection. Last, a feasibility study on the possibility of using this sensors as detecting technology in Fluorescence Fluctuation Spectroscopy (FFS) biophysical experiments had been conducted. In FFS experiments the parameters describing the system under study (proteins ligated with fluorophores in a solution) are measured from the deviations of the fluorescence intensity around its mean value: the use of fast (with a sub-nanosecond temporal resolution) detectors with an large photon number resolution can costitute an improvement of the experimental conditions. Thus a dedicated setup had been commissioned and SiPMs demonstrated to be able to perform an effective Photon Counting Histogram (one of the FFS techniques) measurement. 1RAdiation Protection with Silicon Optoelectronic Devices and Instruments \u2013 COOP 3299

Silicon photomultipliers: characterization and application to fluorescence flucturation spectroscopy.

This thesis originates from and develops around Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs): starting from a description of the working principles of these devices, this work presents a review on this technology and on some of its possible applications. The great part of this work took place within the framework of an international scientific and industrial collaboration (RAPSODI1, a project funded by the European Commetee), with the aim of developing three radiation detectors using the SiPM technology; in order to find the optimal sensor for each application, an exhaustive protocol to provide a characterization of the performances of the main SiPM parameters (gain, photo-detection efficiency, dark count rate, optical cross-talk, breakdown voltage dependence from temperature) has been provided. In order to further improve the knowledge on Silicon PhotoMultipliers, a phenomenological model describing the statistics of Geiger-Müller avalanches for impinging photons with known probability distribution has been elaborated: this model takes into account the contribution given by the thermally generated avalanches and by the cross-talk, thus providing a model for the SiPM deviations from the ideal bernoullian detection. Last, a feasibility study on the possibility of using this sensors as detecting technology in Fluorescence Fluctuation Spectroscopy (FFS) biophysical experiments had been conducted. In FFS experiments the parameters describing the system under study (proteins ligated with fluorophores in a solution) are measured from the deviations of the fluorescence intensity around its mean value: the use of fast (with a sub-nanosecond temporal resolution) detectors with an large photon number resolution can costitute an improvement of the experimental conditions. Thus a dedicated setup had been commissioned and SiPMs demonstrated to be able to perform an effective Photon Counting Histogram (one of the FFS techniques) measurement. 1RAdiation Protection with Silicon Optoelectronic Devices and Instruments – COOP 3299

Photon-number statistics with Silicon photomultipliers

We present a description of the operation of a multi-pixel detector in the presence of non-negligible dark-count and cross-talk effects. We apply the model to devise self-consistent calibration strategies to be performed on the very light under investigation

First operation of the JUNGFRAU detector in 16-memory cell mode at European XFEL

The JUNGFRAU detector is a well-established hybrid pixel detector developed at the Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI) designed for free-electron laser (FEL) applications. JUNGFRAU features a charge-integrating dynamic gain switching architecture, with three different gain stages and 75 μm pixel pitch. It is widely used at the European X-ray Free-Electron Laser (EuXFEL), a facility which produces high brilliance X-ray pulses at MHz repetition rate in the form of bursts repeating at 10 Hz. In nominal configuration, the detector utilizes only a single memory cell and supports data acquisition up to 2 kHz. This constrains the operation of the detector to a 10 Hz frame rate when combined with the pulsed train structure of the EuXFEL. When configured in so-called burst mode, the JUNGFRAU detector can acquire a series of images into sixteen memory cells at a maximum rate of around 150 kHz. This acquisition scheme is better suited for the time structure of the X-rays as well as the pump laser pulses at the EuXFEL. To ensure confidence in the use of the burst mode at EuXFEL, a wide range of measurements have been performed to characterize the detector, especially to validate the detector alibration procedures. In particular, by analyzing the detector response to varying photon intensity (so called ‘intensity scan’), special attention was given to the characterization of the transitions between gain stages. The detector was operated in both dynamic gain switching and fixed gain modes. Results of these measurements indicate difficulties in the characterization of the detector dynamic gain switching response while operated in burst mode, while no major issues have been found with fixed gain operation. Based on this outcome, fixed gain operation mode with all the memory cells was used during two experiments at EuXFEL, namely in serial femtosecond protein crystallography and Kossel lines measurements. The positive outcome of these two experiments validates the good results previously obtained, and opens the possibility for a wider usage of the detector in burst operation mode, although compromises are needed on the dynamic range

A Browser-Based Distributed System for the Detection of HTTPS Stripping Attacks against Web Pages

Part 13: Short PapersInternational audienceHTTPS stripping attacks leverage a combination of weak configuration choices to trick users into providing sensitive data through hijacked connections. Here we present a browser extension that helps web users to detect this kind of integrity and authenticity breaches, by extracting relevant features from the browsed pages and comparing them to reference values coming from different sorts of trusted sources. The rationale behind the extension is discussed and its effectiveness is demonstrated with some quantitative results, gathered on the prototype that has been implemented for Mozilla Firefox