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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 145 records · Page 8
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2026

Characterization of high-flux cadmium zinc telluride detectors coupled to MM-PAD readout ASICs for high-flux X-ray applications

High-flux cadmium zinc telluride (HF-CZT) is a promising material for next-generation X-ray imaging due to its high stopping power, wide bandgap, and improved resistance to radiation-induced polarization [1]. We bonded 2 mm thick HF-CZT sensors with Cornell's Mixed-Mode Pixel Array ASICs, which combine analog charge integration and in-pixel digital counting to achieve single X-ray sensitivity, large full well capacity, and frame rates up to 10 kHz [2,3]. Detector characterization showed stable electron collection above 150 V bias, while hole collection remained limited by trapping even at 700 V. Temporal studies revealed non-negligible afterglow, with an unexpected increase in afterglow at higher biases, which was reduced by infrared illumination, suggesting that injected carriers reduce trapping near contact interfaces. Polarization measurements confirmed improved stability compared to conventional CZT, though polarization effects persisted, particularly with hole collection, with up to 5% signal loss and spatial distortion at high doses.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Temperature-dependent calibration procedures for the silicon photomultiplier readout of the cosmic ray veto detector for the Mu2e experiment

The cosmic ray veto detector for the Mu2e experiment consists of scintillation bars embedded with wavelength-shifting fibers and read out by silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs). Here, in this manuscript, the calibration procedures of the SiPMs are described including corrections for the temperature dependence of their light yield. These corrections are needed as the SiPMs are not kept at a constant temperature due to the complexity and cost of implementing a cooling system on such a large detector. Rather, it was decided to monitor the temperature to allow the appropriate corrections to be made. The SiPM temperature dependence has been measured in a dedicated experiment and the calibration procedures were validated with data from production detectors awaiting installation at Fermilab.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
NASA NTRS1986

Wedge and strip image readout systems for photon-counting detectors in space astronomy

EUV and far UV applications of wedge and strip anodes in photon-counting microchannel plate detector systems are discussed in light of performance data obtained as a result of EUV Explorer spacecraft open face detector and FAUST-Spacelab far UV sealed tube sensor calibrations. CsI quantum detection efficiencies of about 80 percent at 114 A and about 40 percent at 600 and 1300 A have been achieved; a position sensitivity of less than 10 microns is demonstrated, and the position resolution, image linearity, background rate, and flat-field characteristics are discussed.

Siegmund, O. H. W.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Fabrication of Tunnel Junctions For Direct Detector Arrays With Single-Electron Transistor Readout Using Electron-Beam Lithography

This paper will describe the fabrication of small aluminum tunnel junctions for applications in astronomy. Antenna-coupled superconducting tunnel junctions with integrated single-electron transistor readout have the potential for photon-counting sensitivity at sub-millimeter wavelengths. The junctions for the detector and single-electron transistor can be made with electron-beam lithography and a standard self-aligned double-angle deposition process. However, high yield and uniformity of the junctions is required for large-format detector arrays. This paper will describe how measurement and modification of the sensitivity ratio in the resist bilayer was used to greatly improve the reliability of forming devices with uniform, sub-micron size, low-leakage junctions.

Stevenson, T. R.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Enabling Large Focal Plane Arrays through Mosaic Hybridization

We have demonstrated the hybridization of large mosaics of far-infrared detectors, joining separately fabricated sub-units into a single unit on a single, large substrate. We produced a single detector mockup on a 100mm diameter wafer and four mockup readout quadrant chips from a separate 100mm wafer. The individually fabricated parts were hybridized using a Suss FC150 flip chip bonder to assemble the detector-readout stack. Once all of the hybridized readouts were in place, a single, large and thick silicon substrate was placed on the stack and attached with permanent epoxy to provide strength and a Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE) match to the silicon components underneath. Wirebond pads on the readout chips connect circuits to warm readout electronics; and were used to validate the successful superconducting electrical interconnection of the mockup mosaic-hybridized detector. This demonstration is directly scalable to 150 mm diameter wafers, enabling pixel areas over ten times the area currently demonstrated.

Miller, Timothy M.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Enabling Large Focal Plane Arrays Through Mosaic Hybridization

We have demonstrated advances in mosaic hybridization that will enable very large format far-infrared detectors. Specifically we have produced electrical detector models via mosaic hybridization yielding superconducting circuit paths by hybridizing separately fabricated sub-units onto a single detector unit. The detector model was made on a 100mm diameter wafer while four model readout quadrant chips were made from a separate 100mm wafer. The individually fabricated parts were hybridized using a flip-chip bonder to assemble the detector-readout stack. Once all of the hybridized readouts were in place, a single, large and thick silicon substrate was placed on the stack and attached with permanent epoxy to provide strength and a Coefficient of Thermal Expansion match to the silicon components underneath. Wirebond pads on the readout chips connect circuits to warm readout electronics; and were used to validate the successful superconducting electrical interconnection of the model mosaic-hybrid detector. This demonstration is directly scalable to 150 mm diameter wafers, enabling pixel areas over ten times the area currently available.

Miller, TImothy M.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Enabling Large Focal Plane Arrays Through Mosaic Hybridization

We have demonstrated advances in mosaic hybridization that will enable very large format far-infrared detectors. Specifically we have produced electrical detector models via mosaic hybridization yielding superconducting circuit paths by hybridizing separately fabricated sub-units onto a single detector unit. The detector model was made on a 100mm diameter wafer while four model readout quadrant chips were made from a separate 100mm wafer. The individually fabricated parts were hybridized using a flip-chip bonder to assemble the detector-readout stack. Once all of the hybridized readouts were in place, a single, large and thick silicon substrate was placed on the stack and attached with permanent epoxy to provide strength and a Coefficient of Thermal Expansion match to the silicon components underneath. Wirebond pads on the readout chips connect circuits to warm readout electronics; and were used to validate the successful superconducting electrical interconnection of the model mosaic-hybrid detector. This demonstration is directly scalable to 150 mm diameter wafers, enabling pixel areas over ten times the area currently available.

Miller, Timothy M.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Hybrid analog/digital, large format, photon counting detectors for astronomy

The development of a new microchannel plate photon-counting detector with an analog readout method based on a resistive anode is reported. This detector exhibits extremely high, stable electron gains of 10 to the 8th. At this gain, the spatial resolution is no longer primarily limited by the noise of the resistive anode, so that digital methods of readout, such as discrete conductors, lose their advantage. These detectors can be readily scaled to 40 mm and 70 mm formats to match plate scales of 2-m (and larger) telescopes. New, high speed digital electronics fully exploit the high spatial and time resolution made possible by gains of this level. Analysis of the theoretical performance of this detector shows that the major limitation to the spatial resolution is the proximity focus of the photocathode and the first microchannel plate. The detector has been mated to an echelle spectrograph developed.

Crocker, J.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Enabling Large Focal Plane Arrays Through Mosaic Hybridization

We have demonstrated advances in mosaic hybridization that will enable very large format far-infrared detectors. Specifically we have produced electrical detector models via mosaic hybridization yielding superconducting circuit patbs by hybridizing separately fabricated sub-units onto a single detector unit. The detector model was made on a 100mm diameter wafer while four model readout quadrant chips were made from a separate 100mm wafer. The individually fabric.ted parts were hybridized using a Suss FCI50 flip chip bonder to assemble the detector-readout stack. Once all of the hybridized readouts were in place, a single, large and thick silicon substrate was placed on the stack and attached with permanent epoxy to provide strength and a Coefficient of Thermal Expansion match to the silicon components underneath. Wirebond pads on the readout chips connect circuits to warm readout electronics; and were used to validate the successful superconducting electrical interconnection of the model mosaic-hybrid detector. This demonstration is directly scalable to 150 mm diameter wafers, enabling pixel areas over ten times the area currently available.

Miller, Timothy M.↗
DOE OSTI2026

Readout Noise of Digital Frequency Multiplexed TES Detectors for CUPID

The superconducting transition-edge sensor (TES) detectors have been the standard in cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments for almost two decades and are now being adapted for use in nuclear physics, such as neutrinoless double beta decay searches. In this article, we focus on a new high-bandwidth frequency multiplexed TES readout system developed for CUPID, a neutrinoless double beta decay experiment that will replace CUORE. In order to achieve the high energy resolution requirements for CUPID, the readout noise of the system must be kept to a minimum. Low TES operating resistance and long wiring between the readout SQUID and the warm electronics are needed for CUPID, prompting a careful consideration of the design parameters of this application of frequency multiplexing. In this work, we characterize the readout noise of the newly designed frequency multiplexed TES readout system for CUPID and construct a noise model to understand it. Here, we find that current sharing between the SQUID coil impedance and other branches of the circuit, as well as the long output wiring, worsen the readout noise of the system. To meet noise requirements, a SQUID with a low input inductance, high transimpedance, and/or low dynamic impedance is needed, and the wiring capacitance should be kept as small as possible. Alternatively, the option of adding a cryogenic low-noise amplifier at the output of the SQUID should be explored.

CUPID↗
DOE OSTI2026

Large-scale real-time signal processing in physics experiments: the ALICE TPC FPGA pipeline

For LHC Run 3, the ALICE Time Projection Chamber was upgraded to operate in continuous readout mode. Interaction rates of up to 50 kHz in Pb-Pb collisions require real-time processing of more than 3 TB s -1 of raw detector data. This requirement is met by a custom FPGA-based processing pipeline that performs the complete front-end data treatment fully in-stream, including common-mode correction, pedestal subtraction, ion-tail filtering, zero suppression, and dense data packing. A central element of the design is a highly parallel common-mode correction algorithm operating directly on the streaming data. It robustly identifies signal-free readout channels on a time-bin basis and applies pad-dependent scaling to compensate for local variations in capacitive coupling in the GEM readout. In combination with pedestal subtraction and ion-tail filtering, this enables accurate baseline restoration under extreme high-occupancy conditions, preventing signal loss while efficiently suppressing noise prior to zero suppression. The pipeline operates continuously at the full detector bandwidth and reduces the raw input rate of approximately 3 TB s -1 to about 900 GBps for Pb-Pb collisions at the target interaction rate. Overall, it represents a large-scale FPGA-based real-time signal-processing implementation for high-energy physics detector readout.

Digital signal processing (DSP)↗
DOE OSTI2025

The STAR Forward Silicon Tracker

The Forward Silicon Tracker (FST) is a pivotal component of the forward upgrade of the Solenoidal Tracker at RHIC (STAR), designed to discern hadron charge signs with a momentum resolution better than 30% for 0.2 < p T < 2GeV/c in the 2.5 < η < 4 pseudorapidity range. Its compact design features three disks along the beam direction, minimized material budget, and scattering effects. The FST uses Hamamatsu’s p-in-n silicon strip sensors with a double metal layer that enables efficient signal routing to the readout electronics, enhancing overall detector performance. The flexible hybrid boards, essential for the readout system, are constructed with Kapton and copper layers to optimize signal handling and power distribution. These boards connect silicon strips to analogue pipeline ASIC APV25-S1 chips, which read up to 128 channels each. A cooling system with nonconducting, volatile NOVEC 7200 coolant at 22.2 °C mitigates ASIC-generated heat. Furthermore, the FST enhances forward tracking performance at STAR as an integral part of the forward upgrade.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Intelligent Pixel Detectors: Towards a Radiation Hard ASIC with On-Chip Machine Learning in 28 nm CMOS

Detectors at future high energy colliders will face enormous technical challenges. Disentangling the unprecedented numbers of particles expected in each event will require highly granular silicon pixel detectors with billions of readout channels. With event rates as high as 40 MHz, these detectors will generate petabytes of data per second. To enable discovery within strict bandwidth and latency constraints, future trackers must be capable of fast, power efficient, and radiation hard data-reduction at the source. We are developing a radiation hard readout integrated circuit (ROIC) in 28nm CMOS with on-chip machine learning (ML) for future intelligent pixel detectors. We will show track parameter predictions using a neural network within a single layer of silicon and hardware tests on the first tape-outs produced with TSMC. Preliminary results indicate that reading out featurized clusters from particles above a modest momentum threshold could enable using pixel information at 40 MHz.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
NASA NTRS1994

Pseudomaster equation for the no-count process in a continuous photodetection

The detection of cavity radiation with the detector placed outside the cavity is studied. Each leaked photon has a certain probability of propagating away without being detected. It is viewed as a continuous quantum measurement in which the density matrix is continuously revised according to the readout of the detector. The concept of pseudomaster equation for the no-count process is introduced; its solution leads to the discovery of the superoperator for the same process. It has the potential to become the key equation for continuous measurement process.

Lee, Ching-Tsung↗
NASA NTRS2016

Assembly and Integration Process of the First High Density Detector Array for the Atacama Cosmology Telescope

The Advanced ACTPol (AdvACT) upgrade on the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) consists of multichroicTransition Edge Sensor (TES) detector arrays to measure the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarization anisotropies in multiple frequency bands. The first AdvACT detector array, sensitive to both 150 and 230 GHz, is fabricated on a 150 mm diameter wafer and read out with a completely different scheme compared to ACTPol. Approximately 2000 TES bolometers are packed into the wafer leading to both a much denser detector density and readout circuitry. The demonstration of the assembly and integration of the AdvACT arrays is important for the next generation CMB experiments, which will continue to increase the pixel number and density. We present the detailed assembly process of the first AdvACT detector array.

Li, Yaqiong↗
DOE OSTI2025

First demonstration of a TES based cryogenic Li 2 MoO 4 detector for neutrinoless double beta decay search

Cryogenic calorimetric experiments to search for neutrinoless double-beta decay (0vββ) are highly competitive, scalable and versatile in isotope. The largest planned detector array, CUPID, is comprised of about 1500 individual Li 2 100 MoO 4 detector modules with a further scale up envisioned for a follow up experiment (CUPID-1T). In this article, we present a novel detector concept targeting this second stage with a low impedance TES based readout for the Li 2 MoO 4 absorber that is easily mass-produced and lends itself to a multiplexed readout. We present the detector design and results from a first prototype detector operated at the NEXUS shallow underground facility at Fermilab. The detector is a 2-cm-side cube with 21 g mass that is strongly thermally coupled to its readout chip to allow rise-times of ~0.5 ms. This design is more than one order of magnitude faster than present NTD based detectors and is hence expected to effectively mitigate backgrounds generated through the pile-up of two independent two neutrino decay events coinciding close in time. Together with a baseline resolution of 1.95 keV (FWHM) these performance parameters extrapolate to a background index from pile-up as low as 5 • 10 –6 counts/keV/kg/yr in CUPID size crystals. The detector was calibrated up to the MeV region showing sufficient dynamic range for 0vββ searches. In combination with a SuperCDMS HVeV detector this setup also allowed us to perform a precision measurement of the scintillation time constants of Li 2 MoO 4 , which showed a primary component with a fast O(20 μs) time scale. Similar content being viewe

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗