Fabrication of low-cost, large-area prototype Si(Li) detectors for the GAPS experiment

Abstract

A Si(Li) detector fabrication procedure has been developed with the aim of satisfying the unique requirements of the GAPS (General Antiparticle Spectrometer) experiment. Si(Li) detectors are particularly well-suited to the GAPS detection scheme, in which several planes of detectors act as the target to slow and capture an incoming antiparticle into an exotic atom, as well as the spectrometer and tracker to measure the resulting decay X-rays and annihilation products. These detectors must provide the absorption depth, energy resolution, tracking efficiency, and active area necessary for this technique, all within the significant temperature, power, and cost constraints of an Antarctic long-duration balloon flight. We report here on the fabrication and performance of prototype 2"-diameter, 1-1.25 mm-thick, single-strip Si(Li) detectors that provide the necessary X-ray energy resolution of $\sim$4 keV for a cost per unit area that is far below that of previously-acquired commercial detectors. This fabrication procedure is currently being optimized for the 4"-diameter, 2.5 mm-thick, multi-strip geometry that will be used for the GAPS flight detectors.

arXiv commentAccepted for publication at Nuclear Instrumentation and Methods A, 12 pages, 11 figures

References in corpus (5)

• Antideuteron Sensitivity for the GAPS Experiment
• The Prototype GAPS (pGAPS) Experiment
• The flight of the GAPS prototype experiment
• The pGAPS experiment: an engineering balloon flight of prototype GAPS
• A Measurement of Atomic X-ray Yields in Exotic Atoms and Implications for an Antideuteron-Based Dark Matter Search

Cited by in corpus (14)

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• Large-area Si(Li) detectors for X-ray spectrometry and particle tracking in the GAPS experiment
• Passivation of Si(Li) detectors operated above cryogenic temperatures for space-based applications
• Sensitivity of the GAPS Experiment to Low-energy Cosmic-ray Antiprotons
• Statistical investigation of the large-area Si(Li) detectors mass-produced for the GAPS experiment
• The antinucleus annihilation reconstruction algorithm of the GAPS experiment
• Large-scale detector testing for the GAPS Si(Li) Tracker
• Large-area Si(Li) Detectors for X-ray Spectrometry and Particle Tracking for the GAPS Experiment
• Front-end electronics for the GAPS tracker
• Development of Large-area Lithium-drifted Silicon Detectors for the GAPS Experiment
• New Technologies for Discovery
• Application of Machine Learning to the Particle Identification of GAPS