Study of Silicon Photomultipliers for the GRIPS Calorimeter Module

Alexei Ulyanov,Sheila Mcbreen,Lorraine Hanlon,Suzanne Foley

doi:10.14311/1716

Abstract

GRIPS is a proposed gamma-ray (200 keV to 80 MeV) astronomy mission, which incorporates a pair-creation and Compton scattering telescope, along with X-ray and infrared telescopes. It will carry out a sensitive all-sky scanning survey, investigating phenomena such as gamma-ray bursts, blazars and core collapse supernovae. The main telescope is composed of a Si strip detector surroundedby a calorimeter with a fast scintillator material. We present the initial results of a study which considers the potential use of silicon photomultipliers in conjunction with the scintillator in the GRIPS calorimeter module.

Highlights

GRIPS (Gamma-Ray Imaging, Polarimetry and Spectroscopy) [1, 2] is a proposed γ-ray astronomy mission, which will perform a sensitive all-sky scanning survey from 200 keV to 80 MeV
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the possibility of using novel silicon photomultipliers (SiPM) for the calorimeter readout in the GRIPS mission and to optimise the design of a calorimeter module
We present here the results of an initial study, which has focused on the technical requirements of the Gamma-Ray Monitor (GRM) calorimeter

Summary

Introduction

GRIPS (Gamma-Ray Imaging, Polarimetry and Spectroscopy) [1, 2] is a proposed γ-ray astronomy mission, which will perform a sensitive all-sky scanning survey from 200 keV to 80 MeV. Similar to previous Compton and pair creation telescopes, the GRM design envisages two separate detectors: a silicon tracker, in which the initial Compton scattering or pair conversion takes place, and a calorimeter, which absorbs and measures the energy of the secondaries. For optimum angular resolution GRM requires a finely segmented calorimeter with ∼ 105 readout channels. Recent technological advances in the development of silicon photomultipliers (SiPM) make them a promising option for the GRM calorimeter readout. These detectors combine the high gain of traditional photomultipliers with low-voltage operation, robustness, low mass and compact design typical for semiconductor devices. We present here the results of an initial study, which has focused on the technical requirements of the GRM calorimeter

D2 Bottom Baseplate 1 Electronics cm Baseplate 2

GRM model and simulation environment

Initial results

Future work