Developing the Future of Gamma-ray Astrophysics with Monolithic Silicon Pixels

Abstract

This paper explores the potential of AstroPix, a project to develop Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) pixels for the next generation of space-based high-energy astrophysics experiments. Multimessenger astrophysics is a rapidly developing field whose upcoming missions need support from new detector technology such as AstroPix. ATLASPix, a monolithic silicon detector optimized for the ATLAS particle detector at CERN, is the beginning of the larger AstroPix project. Energy resolution is a driving parameter in the reconstruction of gamma-ray events, and therefore the characterization of ATLASPix energy resolution is the focus of this paper. The intrinsic energy resolution of the detector exceeded our baseline requirements of <10% at 60 keV. The digital output of ATLASPix results in energy resolutions insufficient to advance gamma-ray astronomy. However, the results from the intrinsic energy resolution indicate the digital capability of the detector can be redesigned, and the next generation of pixels for the larger AstroPix project have already been constructed. Iterations of AstroPix-type pixels are an exciting technology candidate to support new space-based missions.

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Cited by in corpus (15)

• The All-sky Medium Energy Gamma-ray Observatory eXplorer (AMEGO-X) Mission Concept
• AstroPix: Novel monolithic active pixel silicon sensors for future gamma-ray telescopes
• Development of the ComPair gamma-ray telescope prototype
• Performance evaluation of the high-voltage CMOS active pixel sensor AstroPix for gamma-ray space telescopes
• Compton Telescopes for Gamma-ray Astrophysics
• AstroPix: A Pixelated HVCMOS Sensor for Space-Based Gamma-Ray Measurement
• AstroPix: CMOS pixels in space
• Radiation-Induced Degradation Mechanism of X-ray SOI Pixel Sensors with Pinned Depleted Diode Structure
• ComPair-2: A Next Generation Medium Energy Gamma-ray Telescope Prototype
• Improving the low-energy transient sensitivity of AMEGO-X using single-site events
• Evaluation of the Response to Electrons and Pions in the Scintillating Fiber and Lead Calorimeter for the Future Electron-Ion Collider
• Evaluation of gamma-ray response of the AstroPix4 HV-CMOS active pixel sensor
• A-STEP: The AstroPix Sounding Rocket Technology Demonstration Payload
• Conceptual study of a two-layer silicon pixel detector to tag the passage of muons from cosmic sources through quantum processors
• Beam Test Performance of AstroPix sensor with 120 GeV protons