A Large Area Silicon Drift Detector for X-rays

Large-area, low-power, position-sensitive silicon drift detectors are an enabling technology for multiple instrument and mission concepts that address high priority recommendations of Astro2020, including an X-ray Probe and Time Domain and Multimessenger (TDAMM) astrophysics. In Italy, INFN and INAF have developed silicon drift detectors (SDDs) that are large format (11 cm x 7 cm), 1.5D position sensitive, and capable of high throughput with fine time resolution (10 us) and good spectral resolution (200--300 eV) in the 2--50 keV band. These SDDs were developed originally for the ALICE experiment at CERN and have now been optimized for X-ray astronomy to obtain a fully depleted region 450 um thick and provide a total active area of 76 cm^2 per detector. With appropriate readout electronics, these modular building blocks form the basis for multiple mission concepts, from a probe-class mission to a Explorers to SmallSats and CubeSats. STROBE-X is a mission concept that would fulfill the Astro2020 recommendation for an X-ray Probe. STROBE-X consists of three instruments: a 2.1 m^2 soft-band (0.2--12 keV) X-ray Concentrator Array (XRCA), based on the successful heritage of NICER; a 5.1 m^2 hard-band (2--30 keV) Large Area Detector (LAD), and a 2--50 keV Wide Field Monitor (WFM). The complementary passbands of the two large-area instruments and the continuous, sensitive sky coverage of the WFM represent an extraordinarily powerful combination that will do transformational science by measuring the most fundamental physical parameters of compact objects, revealing how they form, grow, and die; and will be a critical high energy component of the decade of time domain surveys. Both LAD and WFM instruments are based on the INFN/INAF SDDs. If not selected as the first Probe mission, a descoped version of STROBE-X will be proposed as a MIDEX mission in 2026, with an appropriately scaled XRCA and a capable WFM, again based on these SDDs. These same detectors are also the primary detector option for the Grav-X SmallSat concept (Lead: H. Krawczynski) to localize and study gamma-ray burst (GRB) counterparts to gravitational wave events. This fleet of 1--7 low-cost spacecraft would each carry a deployable array of SDDs, which have a very favorable sensitivity per unit detector mass for short GRBs. Another developing concept is a mission dedicated to continuous sky monitoring in the X-ray and gamma-ray bands (Lead: E. Burns), designed in response to recommended TDAMM program. Here, a set of WFM-like cameras would continuously view as much of the sky as possible, augmented with scintillators providing gamma-ray coverage. This would give high time-resolution data on a whole range of explosive and transient events, providing rapid arcminute localizations and the ability to look back in time at higher latency triggers from ground-based optical or radio surveys. Beyond these concepts, these detectors could find application in various CubeSat missions, where their unit size is a good match is a 1U form factor, potentially doing burst science, solar X-ray monitoring, or other studies. In order for these missions to be successfully proposed, a high technology readiness level of the detector systems must be demonstrated. With internal funding from NRL and MSFC, we have developed an ASIC design to the schematic level (called the NSX1 ASIC), optimized for these detectors and performance specifications matched to these instrument concepts. This proposal requests funding to complete development of the NSX1 readout ASIC. As part of our program, the ASIC will be integrated with the detector on a readout board and be tested to verify the achieved performance and operational characteristics, which will raise the TRL to 5 and provide necessary confidence in the use of these detectors in a flight mission.

The Astrophysics Research and Analysis program (APRA) supports suborbital and suborbital-class investigations, development of detectors and supporting technology, laboratory astrophysics, and limited ground-based observing. Basic research proposals in these areas are solicited for investigations that are relevant to NASA's programs in astronomy and astrophysics, including the entire range of photons, gravitational waves, and particle astrophysics. The emphasis of this solicitation is on technologies and investigations that advance NASA astrophysics missions and goals.

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