Balloon flight test of a Compton telescope based on scintillators with silicon photomultiplier readouts
| Autor: | James M. Ryan, Peter F. Bloser, Mark L. McConnell, Christopher M. Bancroft, Jason S. Legere |
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| Rok vydání: | 2016 |
| Předmět: |
Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors Physics::Instrumentation and Detectors Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena Compton telescope FOS: Physical sciences Field of view Scintillator 01 natural sciences 010309 optics Silicon photomultiplier Optics 0103 physical sciences Wide dynamic range Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) 010303 astronomy & astrophysics Instrumentation Physics business.industry Detector Astrophysics::Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics Gamma ray Instrumentation and Detectors (physics.ins-det) Flight test Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics business |
| Zdroj: | Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment. 812:92-103 |
| ISSN: | 0168-9002 |
| Popis: | We present the results of the first high-altitude balloon flight test of a concept for an advanced Compton telescope making use of modern scintillator materials with silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) readouts. There is a need in the fields of high-energy astronomy and solar physics for new medium-energy gamma-ray (~0.4 - 10 MeV) detectors capable of making sensitive observations. A fast scintillator- based Compton telescope with SiPM readouts is a promising solution to this instrumentation challenge, since the fast response of the scintillators permits the rejection of background via time-of-flight (ToF) discrimination. The Solar Compton Telescope (SolCompT) prototype was designed to demonstrate stable performance of this technology under balloon-flight conditions. The SolCompT instrument was a simple two-element Compton telescope, consisting of an approximately one-inch cylindrical stilbene crystal for a scattering detector and a one-inch cubic LaBr3:Ce crystal for a calorimeter detector. Both scintillator detectors were read out by 2 x 2 arrays of Hamamatsu S11828-3344 MPPC devices. Custom front-end electronics provided optimum signal rise time and linearity, and custom power supplies automatically adjusted the SiPM bias voltage to compensate for temperature-induced gain variations. A tagged calibration source, consisting of ~240 nCi of Co-60 embedded in plastic scintillator, was placed in the field of view and provided a known source of gamma rays to measure in flight. The SolCompT balloon payload was launched on 24 August 2014 from Fort Sumner, NM, and spent ~3.75 hours at a float altitude of ~123,000 feet. The instrument performed well throughout the flight. After correcting for small (~10%) residual gain variations, we measured an in-flight ToF resolution of ~760 ps (FWHM). Advanced scintillators with SiPM readouts continue to show great promise for future gamma-ray instruments. Comment: 39 pages, 25 figures, to appear in NIM-A |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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