T. Schanz

Performance Verification of the FlashCam Prototype Camera for the Cherenkov Telescope Array

Abstract The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is a future gamma-ray observatory that is planned to significantly improve upon the sensitivity and precision of the current generation of Cherenkov telescopes. The observatory will consist of several dozens of telescopes with different sizes and equipped with different types of cameras. Of these, the FlashCam camera system is the first to implement a fully digital signal processing chain which allows for a traceable, configurable trigger scheme and flexible signal reconstruction. As of autumn 2016, a prototype FlashCam camera for the medium-sized telescopes of CTA nears completion. First results of the ongoing system tests demonstrate that the signal chain and the readout system surpass CTA requirements. The stability of the system is shown using long-term temperature cycling.

UV MCP Detectors for WSO-UV: Cross Strip Anode and Readout Electronics

The main instrument of the WSO-UV satellite covers the wavelength range of 102-176 nm and 174-310 nm with two high resolution echelle spectrographs. The essential requirements for the associated detectors are high quantum efficiency, solar blindness, and single photon detection. To achieve this, we are developing microchannel plate (MCP) detectors in sealed tubes. It is planned to use cesium activated gallium nitride as semitransparent photocathode, a stack of two microchannel plates in chevron configuration, and a 33 mm × 44 mm cross strip anode with 64 horizontal and 64 vertical electrodes. This type of anode requires a lower gain of the MCPs ( ≈ 106) compared to other types of anodes. Therefore, it extends the expected lifetime of the detectors to about five to ten years. The challenge for the use of a cross strip anode onboard the WSO-UV satellite is the combination of contradictory constraints on the readout electronics: On the one hand it should be able to handle a maximum count rate of 3·105 s-1 with a spatial resolution better than 15 μm . On the other hand the power consumption is limited to about 8 W. One feasible solution is the so-called Beetle chip. This chip provides 128 input channels with charge-sensitive preamplifiers and shapers. It stores the sampled data temporarily in a ring buffer and multiplexes it to four analogue readout channels. The output is then digitized by four ADCs and processed in a radiation hard FPGA, which also contains the space-wire interface to the satellite bus.

MCP detector development for WSO-UV

The spectrographs of WSO-UV cover the wavelength range of 102 - 310 nm. The essential requirements for the associated detectors are high quantum effciency, solar blindness, and single photon detection. To achieve this, we develop a microchannel plate detector in a sealed tube. We plan to use cesium activated gallium nitride as semitransparent photocathode, a stack of two microchannel plates and a cross strip anode with advanced readout electronics. Challenges are the degradation of the photocathode under atmospheric conditions and the sealing process. We present the detector concept, details of the transfer and sealing processes under UHV, and the current status.

Low-power readout electronics for micro channel plate detectors with cross-strip anodes

The World Space Observatory - Ultraviolet (WSO-UV) will be the only space telescope for the ultraviolet wavelength range between 102 and 310 nm during the next decade. It is a multinational project under Russian leadership with contributions from Ukraine and Spain. Its main instrument, the WSO-UV Spectrographs (WUVS), was designed by IAAT in collaboration with the Leibniz Institut für Analytische Wissenschaften, Berlin. We are developing the corresponding microchannel plate detectors using new combinations of materials for the photocathode as well as a 64 by 64 cross strip anode for event position determination. Charge pre-amplification is performed by the Beetle chip designed at the ASIC laboratory of the MPIK for LHCb at CERN. It has 128 pre-amplifiers on one die and provides the analog output in a four-fold serial stream. This stream is digitized by four ADCs and processed in a Microsemi RTAX FPGA. Processed data are sent to the instrument control unit via a SpaceWire interface. This concept results in one order of magnitude reduced power consumption in comparison to the use of conventional pre-amplifiers as well as a reduced volume, weight and complexity of the readout electronics. This paper presents the architecture of the electronics and details of the FPGA design as well as an estimation of the performance of our setup.

Low power readout electronics for a UV MCP detector with cross strip anode

After the shutdown of the Hubble Space Telescope in a few years, new astronomical missions for the ultraviolet (UV) wavelength range between 91 and 300 nm with improved optics and detectors will be necessary. This fact drives our development of solar blind photon counting microchannel plate (MCP) UV detectors with high quantum efficiency, high spatial resolution, and low power readout electronics. We plan to use a cross-strip anode (XSA), which has a high spatial resolution and additionally allows a low gain operation of the MCPs which leads to an increased lifetime of the MCPs compared to detectors with other anode types. The main difficulty in implementing an XSA in a detector for space applications is the need for a (pre-) amplifier, a shaper, and an ADC for each of the strips, which means large power consumption and spatial requirements. The solution we are studying is the application of the so-called Beetle chip. This allows for an implementation of a readout electronics for an XSA with a power consumption of less then 10 W. For the tests of our readout electronics prototype, and for the burn-in of the MCPs, we recently finished a setup in a vacuum chamber that is similar to the configuration in the final detector. We present a brief overview of our detector design and details of the readout electronics setup as well as details of the setup in our vacuum chamber.

A fast event preprocessor for the Simbol-X Low-Energy Detector

The Simbol-X1 Low Energy Detector (LED), a 128 × 128 pixel DEPFET array, will be read out very fast (8000 frames/second). This requires a very fast onboard data preprocessing of the raw data. We present an FPGA based Event Preprocessor (EPP) which can fulfill this requirements. The design is developed in the hardware description language VHDL and can be later ported on an ASIC technology. The EPP performs a pixel related offset correction and can apply different energy thresholds to each pixel of the frame. It also provides a line related common-mode correction to reduce noise that is unavoidably caused by the analog readout chip of the DEPFET. An integrated pattern detector can block all invalid pixel patterns. The EPP has an internal pipeline structure and can perform all operation in realtime (< 2 μs per line of 64 pixel) with a base clock frequency of 100 MHz. It is utilizing a fast median-value detection algorithm for common-mode correction and a new pattern scanning algorithm to select only valid events. Both new algorithms were developed during the last year at our institute.

WFI electronics and on-board data processing

The Wide Field Imager is one of two instruments on-board the future ATHENA X-ray observatory. Its main scientific objective is to perform a sky survey in the energy range of 0.2 keV up to 15 keV with an end-of-life spectral resolution (FWHM) better than 170 eV (at 7 keV) and a frame rate of at least 200 Hz. The field of view will be 40 arcmin squared wherefore a focal plane array with 4 large sensors each with a size of 512 times 512 pixels will be developed. Additionally, a fast detector with a size of 64 times 64 pixels and a frame rate of 12.5 kHz will be implemented in order to enhance the instrument with high count rate detection of bright sources. The data processing electronics within the WFI instrument is distributed over several subsystems: DEPFET sensors sensitive in the x-ray energy regime and front-end electronics are located inside the Camera Head. Data pre-processing inside the Detector Electronics will be performed in an FPGA-based frame-processor. FPGA external memory will be used to store offset and noise maps wherefore memory controllers have to be developed. Fast read and write access to the maps combined with robustness against radiation damage (e.g. bit-flips) has to be ensured by the frame-processor design.

FlashCam: a novel Cherenkov telescope camera with continuous signal digitization

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) will be the next generation ground-based observatory for cosmic gamma rays. The FlashCam camera for its mid-size telescope introduces a new concept, with a modest sampling rate of 250 MS/s, that enables a continuous digitization as well as event buffering and trigger processing using the same front-end FPGAs. The high performance Ethernet-based readout provides a dead-time free operation for event rates up to 30 kHz corresponding to a data rate of 2.0 GByte/s sent to the camera server. We present the camera design and the current status of the project.

Development of a stacked detector system for the X-ray range and its possible applications

We have constructed a stacked detector system operating in the X-ray range from 0.5 keV to 250 keV that consists of a Si-based 64×64 DePFET-Matrix in front of a CdTe hybrid detector called Caliste-64. The setup is operated under laboratory conditions that approximate the expected environment of a space-borne observatory. The DePFET detector is an active pixel matrix that provides high count-rate capabilities with a near Fanolimited spectral resolution at energies up to 15 keV. The Caliste-64 hard X-ray camera consists of a 1mm thick CdTe crystal combined with very compact integrated readout electronics, constituting a high performance spectro-imager with event-triggered time-tagging capability in the energy range between 2 keV and 200 keV. In this combined geometry the DePFET detector works as the Low Energy Detector (LED) while the Caliste-64 - as the High Energy Detector (HED) - detects predominantly the high energetic photons that have passed the LED. In addition to the individual optimization of both detectors, we use the setup to test and optimize the performance of the combined detector system. Side-effects like X-ray fluorescence photons, electrical crosstalk, and mutual heating have negative impacts on the data quality and will be investigated. Besides the primary application as a combined imaging detector system with high sensitivity across a broad energy range, additional applications become feasible. Via the analysis of coincident events in both detectors we can estimate the capabilities of the setup to be used as a Compton camera and as an X-ray polarimeter - both desirable functionalities for use in the lab as well as for future X-ray missions.

Characterisation of low power readout electronics for a UV microchannel plate detector with cross-strip readout

Astronomical observations in the ultraviolet (UV) wavelength range between 91 and 300nm are fundamental for the progress in astrophysics. Scientific success of future UV observatories raises the need for technology development in the areas of detectors, optical components, and their coatings. We develop solar blind and photon counting microchannel plate (MCP) UV detectors as a contribution to the progress in UV observation technology. New combinations of materials for the photocathode (see paper No. 9144-111, this volume, for details) as well as a cross-strip (XS) anode, having 64 strips on each layer, are used. Pre-amplification of the charge deposited onto the anode is performed by the Beetle chip designed at the Max-Planck-Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg for LHCb at CERN. It features 128 pre-amplifiers on one die and provides the analogue output in a four-fold serial stream. This stream is digitised by only four ADCs and is processed in an FPGA. This concept results in a reduced power consumption well below 10W as well as a reduced volume, weight and complexity of the readout electronics compared to existing cross-strip readouts. We developed an electronics prototype assembly and a setup in a vacuum chamber that is similar to the configuration in the final detector. The setup in the chamber is used for the burn-in of the MCPs as well as for tests of the readout electronics prototype assembly incorporating realistic signals. In this paper, information on the XS anodes as well as on the hybrid PCB carrying the Beetle pre-amplifier chip is shown. Details on the readout electronics design as well as details of the setup in the vacuum chamber are presented. An outlook to the next steps in the development process is given.