Abstract
Gamma-Ray Integrated Detectors (GRID) mission is a student project designed to use multiple gamma-ray detectors carried by nanosatellites (CubeSats), forming a full-time all-sky gamma-ray detection network that monitors the transient gamma-ray sky in the multi-messenger astronomy era. A compact CubeSat gamma-ray detector, including its hardware and firmware, was designed and implemented for the mission. The detector employs four \(\mathrm {Gd}_2\mathrm{Al}_2\mathrm{Ga}_3\mathrm{O}_{12}:\mathrm{Ce}\) (GAGG:Ce) scintillators coupled with four silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) arrays to achieve a high gamma-ray detection efficiency between \(\mathrm 10\ \mathrm{keV}\) and 2 MeV with low power and small dimensions. The first detector designed by the undergraduate student team onboard a commercial CubeSat was launched into a Sun-synchronous orbit on October 29, 2018. The detector was in a normal observation state and accumulated data for approximately one month after on-orbit functional and performance tests, which were conducted in 2019.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
J. Wen, X. Long, X. Zheng et al., GRID: a student project to monitor the transient gamma-ray sky in the multi-messenger astronomy era. Exp. Astron. 48, 77–95 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-019-09636-w
V. Bindi, A.D. Guerra, G. Levi et al., Preliminary study of silicon photomultipliers for space missions. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. Sect. A. 572, 662–667 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2006.12.011
T. Chattopadhyay, A.D. Falcon, D.N. Burrows et al., BlackCAT CubeSat: a soft x-ray sky monitor, transient finder, and burst detector for high-energy and multimessenger astophysics. In: Proc. SPIE, Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) Conference Series, 10699, 106995S (2018). https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2314274
J. Racusin, J.S. Perkins, M.S. Briggs et al., BurstCube: A CubeSat for gravitational wave counterparts. arXiv:1708.09292 [astro-ph]. (2017)
M. Ohno, N. Werner, A. Pal et al., CAMELOT: Design and performance verification of the detector concept and localization capability. In: Proc. SPIE, Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) Conference Series, 10699, 1069964 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2313228
A. Pál, M. Ohno, L. Meszaros et al., GRBAlpha: a 1U CubeSat mission for validating timing-based gamma-ray burst localization. In: Proc. SPIE, Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) Conference Series, 11444, 114444V (2020). https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2561351
F. Fuschino, R. Campana, C. Labanti, HERMES, et al., An ultra-wide band X and gamma-ray transient monitor on board a nano-satellite constellation. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. Sect. A. 936, 199–203 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2018.11.072
J. Braga, O.S.C. Durao, M. Castro et al., LECX: a cubesat experiment to detect and localize cosmic explosions in hard X-rays. Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 493, 4852–4860 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa500
J. Iwanowska, L. Swiderski, T. Szczesniak et al., Performance of cerium-doped Gd3Al2Ga3O12 (GAGGGd3Al2Ga3O12(GAGG:Ce)) scintillator in gamma-ray spectrometry. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. Sect. A. 712, 34–40 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2013.01.064
D. Marano, G. Bonanno, M. Belluso et al., A new accurate analytical expression for the SiPM transient response to single photons. In: Proc. 21st IEEE International Conference on Electronics, Circuits and System (IEEE, New York), 514-517(2014). https://doi.org/10.1109/ICECS.2014.7050035
A.N. Otte, D. Garcia, T. Nguyen et al., Characterization of three high efficiency and blue sensitive silicon photomultipliers. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. Sect. A. 846, 106–125 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2016.09.053
L. Cohen, Generalization of Campbell’s theorem to nonstationary noise. In: Proc. 2014 22nd European Signal Processing Conference (EUSIPCO). 2415-2419 (2014)
C. Meegan, G. Lichti, P.N. Bhat et al., The Fermi gamma-ray burst monitor. ApJ. 702, 791–804 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/702/1/791
W. Jiang, C. Yue, M.Y. Cui et al., Comparison of proton shower developments in the BGO calorimeter of the dark matter particle explorer between GEANT4 and FLUKA simulations. Chinese Phys. Lett. 37, 119601 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1088/0256-307X/37/11/119601
T. Haddadifam, M.A. Karami, Dark count rate and band to band tunneling optimization for single photon avalanche diode topologies. Chin. Phys. B 28, 458–464 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1088/1674-1056/28/6/068502
J.Q. Jia, J.L. Jiang, K. Liang et al., EQR SiPM with P-on-N diode configuration. Nucl. Sci. Tech. 30, 119 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41365-019-0644-9
Y. Sun, Z.Y. Sun, Y.J. Yu et al., Temperature dependence of CsI: Tl coupled to a PIN photodiode and a silicon photomultiplier. Nucl. Sci. Tech. 30, 27 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41365-019-0551-0
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Consortia
Contributions
All authors contributed to the study conception and design. System design, material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Jia-Xing Wen, Xu-Tao Zheng, Jian-Dong Yu, Yue-Peng Che, Dong-Xin Yang, Huai-Zhong Gao, Yi-Fei Jin, Xiang-Yun Long, Ji-Rong Cang and Ming Zeng. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Jia-Xing Wen, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Corresponding authors
Additional information
This work was supported by the Tsinghua University Initiative Scientific Research Program, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 11633003, 12025301, and 11821303), and the National Key R&D Program of China (Nos. 2018YFA0404502 and 2016YFA040080X).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wen, JX., Zheng, XT., Yu, JD. et al. Compact CubeSat Gamma-ray detector for GRID mission. NUCL SCI TECH 32, 99 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41365-021-00937-4
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41365-021-00937-4