Gas Pixel Detectors for X-ray Polarimetry applications

Abstract

We discuss a new class of Micro Pattern Gas Detectors, the Gas Pixel Detector (GPD), in which a complete integration between the gas amplification structure and the read-out electronics has been reached. An Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) built in deep sub-micron technology has been developed to realize a monolithic device that is, at the same time, the pixelized charge collecting electrode and the amplifying, shaping and charge measuring front-end electronics. The CMOS chip has the top metal layer patterned in a matrix of 80 micron pitch hexagonal pixels, each of them directly connected to the underneath electronics chain which has been realized in the remaining five layers of the 0.35 micron VLSI technology. Results from tests of a first prototype of such detector with 2k pixels and a full scale version with 22k pixels are presented. The application of this device for Astronomical X-Ray Polarimetry is discussed. The experimental detector response to polarized and unpolarized X-ray radiation is shown. Results from a full MonteCarlo simulation for two astronomical sources, the Crab Nebula and the Hercules X1, are also reported.

16 pages, 20 figures, accepted for publication in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A

References in corpus (2)

• The detection of single electrons by means of a Micromegas-covered MediPix2 pixel CMOS readout circuit
• Reading a GEM with a VLSI pixel ASIC used as a direct charge collecting anode

Cited by in corpus (26)

• X-ray Polarization from Accreting Black Holes: II. The Thermal State
• X-ray Polarization from Accreting Black Holes: Coronal Emission
• A Sealed Gas Pixel Detector for X-ray Astronomy
• Direct reading of charge multipliers with a self-triggering CMOS analog chip with 105k pixels at 50 micron pitch
• New Developments and Future Perspectives of Gaseous Detectors
• Development of Thick-foil and Fine-pitch GEMs with a Laser Etching Technique
• A Low-Noise CMOS Pixel Direct Charge Sensor, Topmetal-II-
• The IXPE view of GRB 221009A
• In-flight calibration system of Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer
• Readout of GEM Detectors Using the Medipix2 CMOS Pixel Chip
• Assembly and Test of the Gas Pixel Detector for X-ray Polarimetry
• Reflection nebulae in the Galactic Center: the case for soft X-ray imaging polarimetry
• LAMP: a micro-satellite based soft X-ray polarimeter for astrophysics
• Polarisation Leakage due to Errors in Track Reconstruction in Gas Pixel Detectors
• Discovery of a shock-compressed magnetic field in the north-western rim of the young supernova remnant RX J1713.7-3946 with X-ray polarimetry
• Development of a Hard X-ray focal plane Compton Polarimeter: A compact polarimetric configuration with Scintillators and Si photomultipliers
• Practical aspects of X-ray imaging polarimetry of supernova remnants and other extended sources
• Development of a Diehard GEM using PTFE insulator substrate
• Joint machine learning and analytic track reconstruction for X-ray polarimetry with gas pixel detectors
• Polarization Properties of the Electromagnetic Response to High-frequency Gravitational Wave
• Prospect of polarisation measurements from black hole binaries in their thermal state with a scattering polarimeter
• Observation of electron excitation into silicon conduction band by slow-ion surface neutralization
• Hard X-ray Polarimetry -- An overview of the method, science drivers and recent findings
• Simulation of a Xe-based X-ray Polarimeter at 10-30 keV
• The HaloSat and PolarLight CubeSat Missions for X-ray Astrophysics
• Magnetic-field Order in the Southwestern Rim of RCW 86 Constrained Using X-Ray Polarimetry