Search results for "PHOTOMULTIPLIER"

Design and implementation of the UFFO burst alert and trigger telescope

2012

The Ultra Fast Flash Observatory pathfinder (UFFO-p) is a telescope system designed for the detection of the prompt optical/UV photons from Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs), and it will be launched onboard the Lomonosov spacecraft in 2012. The UFFO-p consists of two instruments: the UFFO Burst Alert and Trigger telescope (UBAT) for the detection and location of GRBs, and the Slewing Mirror Telescope (SMT) for measurement of the UV/optical afterglow. The UBAT isa coded-mask aperture X-ray camera with a wide field of view (FOV) of 1.8 sr. The detector module consists of the YSO(Yttrium Oxyorthosilicate) scintillator crystal array, a grid of 36 multi-anode photomultipliers (MAPMTs), and analog and digi…

Atmospheric Background Measurement in the 300–400 nm Band with a Balloon Borne Experiment during a Nocturnal Flight

2001

The balloon borne experiment, named BABY (BAckground BYpass) belongs to a wider program, AIRWATCH-OWL, intended for the observation of high energy Cosmic Rays from space, detecting the faint UV fluorescence light emitted by the atmospheric Nitrogen as final result of a complex hadronic cascade. In this framework, one of the fundamental information concern the knowledge of the background level. This is one of the main parameters that contribute to the sensitivity of any kind of instrument. The apparatus used for the BABY experiment was designed and completely built at the IFCAI-CNR in Palermo. The instrument is composed by two filtered and collimated photomultipliers (PMT) that detect the UV…

Ultra-Fast Flash Observatory for detecting the early photons from gamma-ray bursts

2011

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most luminous transient events with short intense flashes that have been detected in random directions in the sky once or twice per day. Their durations have been measured in seconds, especially short GRBs with duration of < 2 sec. The Ultra-Fast Flash Observatory (UFFO) space mission aims to detect the earliest moments of an explosion which presents the nature of GRBs, resulting into the enhancement of GRB mechanism understanding. The UFFO consists of a couple of wide Field-of-View (FOV) trigger telescopes, a narrow-FOV Slewing Mirror Telescope (SMT) for the fast measurement of the UV-optical photons from GRBs, and a gamma-ray monitor for energy measurement.…

A facility to validate photomultipliers for the upgrade of the Pierre Auger Observatory.

2020

The Pierre Auger Observatory is undergoing a major upgrade named AugerPrime with the primary aim to add sensitivity to the mass-composition discrimination of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays. Two different photomultipliers will be added to each water-Cherenkov station of the surface detector of Observatory. To achieve the scientific goals of AugerPrime these photomultipliers have to ensure a linear response to input-light in a wide range. This paper describes a system developed for the validation of AugerPrime-photomultipliers.

First Compton imaging tests with i-TED

2019

The objective of this work is to demonstrate the Compton imaging capabilities of a novel gamma-ray Total-Energy Detector called i-TED. The latter is intended for neutron-capture cross-sections measurements of astrophysical interest, thereby enhancing detection sensitivity by means of the simultaneous combination of Time-of-Flight with Compton-imaging techniques. The developed i-TED demonstrator comprises five position-sensitive radiation detection modules of high energy resolution, which feature an overall position-sensitive field-of-view of 125 cm2, and thus a high efficiency. Each detector module is based on 50x50 mm2 large LaCl 3 (Ce) monolithic crystals optically coupled to 8x8 pixels s…

Silicon photomultiplier properties at cryogenic temperatures

2015

Abstract The properties of different types of silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) were studied at cryogenic temperatures. In liquid nitrogen at 77 K, problems with quenching in Hamamatsu SiPMs and with the protective epoxy layer, covering Zecotek SiPMs, were observed. Tests with one Zecotek SiPM were successful after removal of the epoxy layer. In liquid helium at 4 K, fast signals with pulse lengths shorter than 50 ns were observed, the dark count rate was below 10 Hz and no after-pulses were detected. The gain, as a function of over-voltage, was comparable to room temperature. The SiPM׳s response to photons was found to be linear with intensity for low light levels and single-photon detectio…

Next generation of the Albira small animal PET based on high density SiPM arrays

2015

A new design of the small animal PET Albira system which detectors are based on arrays of SiPMs and monolithic LYSO scintillator is presented here. The system is made out of 3 rings of 8 detectors each, resulting on an axial and transaxial FOVs of 148 and 80 mm, respectively. The scanner is thermally stabilized using air-cooling. Working temperatures around 22–25°C are reached with individual detector variations around 0.2°C minimizing dark count rates and gain drifts. One of the most significant improvements of the current system is the accurate photon impact determination within the crystal volume, specially its depth of interaction. This allows the calculation of the true line of respons…

Cosmic ray effect on the X-ray Trigger Telescope of UFFO/Lomonosov using YSO scintillation crystal array in space

2017

UFFO Burst Alert and Trigger telescope (UBAT) is the X-ray trigger telescope of UFFO/Lomonosov to localize X-ray source with coded mask method and X-ray detector. Its X-ray detector is made up of 36 8×8 pixels Yttrium OxyorthoSilicate (Y2SiO5:Ce, YSO) scintillation crystal arrays and 36 64-channel Multi-Anode PhotoMultiplier Tubes (MAPMTs) for space mission. Its effective detection area is 161cm2 and energy range is several keV to 150 keV. It was successfully launched in April 28, 2016. In several calibration run, we got several X-ray background data. We already knew X-ray background flux is 2-3 counts/cm2/sec in space. However our X-ray background data shows approximately 7-8 times higher …

Position sensitive photosensors based on SiPM arrays

2014

High-resolution multichannel Time-to-Digital Converter core implemented in FPGA for ToF measurements in SiPM-PET

2013

In this contribution, Coincidence Resolving Time (CRT) results with the developed multichannel FPGA-TDC are showed as a function of different configurations for both, the sensor bias voltage and the digitizer threshold. The dependence of the CRT with the sensor matrix temperature, the amount of SiPM active area and the crystal type are also analyzed. Preliminary measurements carried out with a crystal array of 2 mm pixel size and 10 mm height have shown time resolutions for the entire 144 SiPM two-detectors ensemble as good as 800 ps.