Properties of front-end electronics of the compact high energy camera prototype for gamma-ray astronomy

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Date
2022
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Namibia
Abstract
Electronics are a key component for all modern detector systems. The Compact High Energy Camera (CHEC) is a full-waveform camera designed for the dual-mirror Small Sized Telescopes (SST) of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). Some of the main components of the front-end electronics for CHEC are photo-sensors, preamplifiers and TARGET modules. CTA is planned to be a large observatory with up to 70 SSTs, with thousands of photosensor pixels per telescope (2048 camera channels per SST). The readout electronics for an array with such a high number of channels will cer tainly require a highly integrated and modular recording technology. In this study pulse waveforms generated by the camera channels and output by the preamplifier channels were analysed and parameterised in order to identify the different characteristics of the pulse waveforms. Characterising the pulse waveforms will help to better under stand the behaviour of different electronic channels during camera mass production and during observations as well. An automated analysis procedure that will be able to identify faulty camera channels has been established. A cubic spline has been fit to the data in order to get a good representation of the data and for better comparison of the behaviour of the different electronics channels. The interpolated pulse waveform has a gradually rounded peak, while the actual pulse waveform has a rather sharp peak. In addition, for comparing the behaviour of the different electronic channels, the fre quency distribution of the different characteristics are determined. In this study, it was found that the rise time of the pulse waveform is on average (7.0 ± 0.3) ns , with an average fall time of (15.0 ± 0.8) ns, while the interpolated fit has an average rise time of (6.0 ± 0.6) ns, thus showing consistency in the behaviour of the different channels.
Description
A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science (Physics)
Keywords
Electronics, Camera, Gamma-ray
Citation