Design, Construction and Performance of the Detector for UFFO Burst Alert & Trigger Telescope

Abstract

One of the key aspects of the upcoming Ultra-Fast Flash Observatory (UFFO) pathfinder for Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) identification is the UFFO Burst Alert & Trigger Telescope (UBAT). The scientific propose of UBAT is to detect and locate as fast as possible the GRBs in the sky. This is achieved by using a coded mask aperture camera scheme with a wide field of view (FOV) and selecting a X-ray detector of high quantum efficiency and large detection area. This X-ray detector of high quantum efficiency and large detection area is called the UBAT detector. The UBAT detector consists of 48 × 48 Yttrium Oxyorthosilicate (YSO) scintillator crystal arrays and Multi Anode Photomultiplier Tubes (MAPMTs), analog electronics equipped with ASIC chips, digital electronics equipped with Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) chips, and a mechanical structure that supports all components of the UBAT detector. The total number of the pixels in the UBAT detector is 2304, and the total effective detection area is 191 cm 2. We will present the design and construction, and performance of the UBAT detector including the responses of the UBAT detector to X-ray sources.

Testing and Performance of UFFO Burst Alert & Trigger Telescope

“…It consists of two scientific instruments. One is the UFFO Burst Alert & Trigger telescope (UBAT) [4,5,6] which employs the coded mask technique providing X-ray/gamma-ray imaging observations in the energy range of 10 − 150 keV with half-coded field of view (FOV) 70.4 • × 70.4 • and angular resolution ≤ 10 . The second instrument is the Slewing Mirror Telescope (SMT) [7,8] with the field of view of 17 × 17 and optical/ultraviolet range of 200 − 650 nm.…”

Gamma-Ray Bursts and their Relation to Astroparticle Physics and Cosmology

“…4. A GRB location is determined in a few seconds by the first instrument called UFFO Burst Alert & Trigger telescope (UBAT)[34][35][36][37] which employs the coded mask imaging technique 38 and the detector comprising of Yttrium Oxyorthosilicate scintillating crystals and multi-anode photomultiplier tubes. It has the energy range of ≈ 10 − 150 keV with half-coded field of view (HCFOV) 70.4 • × 70.4 • and angular resolution ≤ 10 ′ .…”