Design and Fabrication of Detector Module for UFFO Burst Alert & Trigger Telescope

TL;DR

This paper details the design, fabrication, and preliminary testing of the detector module for the UFFO Burst Alert & Trigger telescope, aimed at detecting gamma-ray bursts and capturing their early light curves.

Contribution

It introduces a novel detector module design for the UBAT telescope, including fabrication processes and initial performance results.

Findings

Successful fabrication of the detector module

Preliminary test results demonstrate functional performance

Design improvements for gamma-ray burst detection

Abstract

The Ultra-Fast Flash Observatory (UFFO) pathfinder is a space mission devoted to the measurement of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs), especially their early light curves which will give crucial information on the progenitor stars and central engines of the GRBs. It consists of two instruments: the UFFO Burst Alert & Trigger telescope (UBAT) for the detection of GRB locations and the Slewing Mirror Telescope (SMT) for the UV/optical afterglow observations, upon triggering by UBAT. The UBAT employs a coded-mask {\gamma}/X-ray camera with a wide field of view (FOV), and is comprised of three parts: a coded mask, a hopper, and a detector module (DM). The UBAT DM consists of a LYSO scintillator crystal array, multi-anode photo multipliers, and analog and digital readout electronics. We present here the design and fabrication of the UBAT DM, as well as its preliminary test results.