Eur. Phys. J. C (2017) 77: 47
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-017-4609-z

Regular Article - Experimental Physics

An innovative silicon photomultiplier digitizing camera for gamma-ray astronomy

¹ DPNC-Université de Genève, 24 Quai Ernest Ansermet, Geneva, Switzerland
² Départment of Astronomy, Université de Genéve, 16 Chemin de Ecogia, Geneva, Switzerland
³ Instytut Fizyki Ja̧drowej im. H. Niewodniczańskiego Polskiej Akademii Nauk, ul. Radzikowskiego 152, 31-342, Kraków, Poland
⁴ Astronomical Observatory, University of Warsaw, al. Ujazdowskie 4, 00-478, Warsaw, Poland
⁵ Astronomical Observatory, Jagellonian University, ul. Orla 171, 30-244, Kraków, Poland
⁶ Centrum Badań Kosmicznych Polskiej Akademii Nauk, Warsaw, Poland
⁷ Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center, Polish Academy of Science, Warsaw, Poland
⁸ Astronomical Observatory, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Observatorna str., 3, Kyiv, Ukraine
⁹ AGH University of Science and Technology, al.Mickiewicza 30, Kraków, Poland
¹⁰ Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, 17. listopadu 50, Olomouc & Na Slovance 2, Prague, Czech Republic
¹¹ Department of Information Technologies, Jagiellonian University, ul. prof. Stanisława Łojasiewicza 11, 30-348, Kraków, Poland
¹² Faculté des Sciences, Université Libre Bruxelles, Avenue Franklin Roosevelt 50, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

^* e-mail: matthieu.heller@cern.ch

Received: 14 July 2016
Accepted: 8 January 2017
Published online: 25 January 2017

Abstract

The single-mirror small-size telescope (SST-1M) is one of the three proposed designs for the small-size telescopes (SSTs) of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) project. The SST-1M will be equipped with a 4 m-diameter segmented reflector dish and an innovative fully digital camera based on silicon photo-multipliers. Since the SST sub-array will consist of up to 70 telescopes, the challenge is not only to build telescopes with excellent performance, but also to design them so that their components can be commissioned, assembled and tested by industry. In this paper we review the basic steps that led to the design concepts for the SST-1M camera and the ongoing realization of the first prototype, with focus on the innovative solutions adopted for the photodetector plane and the readout and trigger parts of the camera. In addition, we report on results of laboratory measurements on real scale elements that validate the camera design and show that it is capable of matching the CTA requirements of operating up to high moonlight background conditions.