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Completed TRL 4 (started at 3, targeting 4)
We are working to advance scintillating fiber readout by employing state-of-the-art silicon photomultipliers in compact arrays to achieve significantly higher position resolution for charged particle tracking. Particle tracking (in 3-D) is achieved using orthogonally stacked scintillating fibers readout by ≲1-mm pitch SiPMs. Partnering with the Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK) in Italy, we will test two novel SiPM designs together with new off-the-shelf ASICs with the goal of achieving significant data compression required for Small Satellite platforms.
We will achieve significant data compression of high-volume readout for charged particle tracking which is relevant to a diverse number of research areas including heliophysics, planetary, and astrophysics, but also medical imaging and the Department of Defense. The Energetic Particle Laboratory (EPL) in the Heliophysics Division has been focusing for a number of years on the detection of neutral particles (e.g., neutrons and 𝛾-rays) using modern scintillators and large-area silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) readout (e.g., INCA, TRYAD, BurstCube). More recently, we are advancing these capabilities to include charged particle tracking of recoil protons resulting from neutron elastic scatters within a highly segmented scintillating fiber bundle instrument, the SOlar Neutron TRACking (SONTRAC) instrument. Readout is accomplished using arrays of 1-mm SiPMs and ASICs (see Fig. 1). Adding a conversion layer in front of the fiber bundle enables the detection of pair production 𝛾-rays (with energies ≳50 MeV).
SONTRAC will detect neutrons between 20-150 MeV with sufficient angular resolution to determine solar origin. A solar neutron detection in the range of 20-200 MeV would be a breakthrough measurement when combined with high- and low-energy γ-ray measurements with LAT and GBM of the Fermi mission.
Position sensitive SiPMs, coupled with multi-channel ASICs, advance an already versatile technology, offering even greater potential for technology miniaturization and data compression in addition to offering another important avenue for improving spatial resolution.
We will make significant progress on two separate fronts: 1) evaluation of two new position sensitive SiPMs by FBK for potential use on SONTRAC, and 2) identification of potential multi-channel ASICs for compact, low power readout. The first FBK SiPM design is a novel position sensitive SiPM (LG-SiPM,) with position resolution of 100 μm FWHM whole the second SiPM has a novel strip-configuration.
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