Developing Next-Generation X-Ray Hybrid CMOS Detectors for Future Observatories and Investigating Their Low-Energy Response

The Lynx X-Ray Observatory and other next-generation X-ray observatories will require detectors with finer spatial resolution, faster read-out speeds, and greater energy resolution in order to meet their science goals of observing distant, faint objects in the nascent universe. These missions will also need detectors with high quantum efficiency (QE), the fraction of incident X-rays individually detected, in order to observe the fainter objects (e.g. young seed black holes) that drive the mission science cases. Hybrid CMOS Detectors (HCDs), a form of active pixel sensor, are promising candidates for use in the next generation of X-ray observatories due to their use of read-out integrated circuits (ROIC) in each pixel, allowing for much faster read-out, advanced read-out schemes, lower power consumption, and greater radiation hardness than detectors used in the current generation of X-ray observatories.

The Penn State X-Ray Detector Development Laboratory has designed two models of prototype HCDs which incorporate new technologies with the potential to enable the observational capabilities of future observatories. These detectors are the small-pixel HCD, whose small pixel size enables high-resolution observations, and the Speedster EXD detector, which incorporates event-driven readout and provides the potential for even faster read-out speeds than observed in other HCDs. While these prototype detectors have performed well at moderate energies (1.5 - 10 keV) and are known to have response at energies below 1.5 keV, they have not yet been fully characterized at low energies (0.2 - 1.5 keV). The low-energy efficiency of detectors in future observatories will be vital to their science goals, as the high-redshift quasars and gamma-ray bursts (with power-law spectra) targeted by these observatories are brightest at these energies.

This project seeks to both optimize and characterize the performance of these detectors in the low-energy band in order to guide the development of X-ray HCDs and raise the TRL of these technologies. I plan to measure the QE of these detectors at lower energies than previously measured on any model of X-ray HCD (specifically at 1.49, 0.53, and 0.28 keV) using a proportional counter to gauge the absolute flux, improve the performance of these detectors at low energies through optimization of detector and analysis parameters, and characterize the impact of environmental testing on their performance. Characterizing the low-energy performance of these prototype HCDs is vital to further development of these detectors for use in Lynx and other future observatories. I will use these results to help guide the development of small-pixel and event driven readout technology in HCDs and to improve the low-energy performance of the next generation of HCDs.

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