Test-Beam Performance of the AstroPix Silicon Sensor for Imaging Calorimetry

TL;DR

AstroPix-v3, a high-voltage CMOS active pixel sensor, demonstrated stable performance and effective shower imaging in test-beam experiments, showing promise for future space and collider calorimetry applications.

Contribution

First test-beam results of AstroPix-v3 showing its suitability as an imaging layer in calorimeters for space and collider experiments.

Findings

Achieved up to 68% hit efficiency at -400 V bias.

Successfully captured electromagnetic shower development.

Enabled discrimination between electron and pion events.

Abstract

AstroPix is a high-voltage CMOS HVCMOS monolithic active pixel sensor MAPS developed for future space-based gamma-ray missions. It is also a candidate technology for the imaging layer of the Barrel Imaging Calorimeter BIC in the ePIC experiment at the future Electron-Ion Collider EIC. We report the first AstroPix test-beam results obtained at the KEK Photon Factory Advanced Ring PF-AR and the CERN Proton Synchrotron PS T10 beam line in 2025, using the third prototype AstroPix-v3. AstroPix-v3 sensors were operated as both standalone tracking layers and imaging layers interleaved with prototype lead/scintillating-fiber Pb/SciFi calorimeter modules, using electron and hadron beams in the few-GeV/c momentum range. Event synchronization between the continuous readout of AstroPix-v3 and the trigger-based readout of the Pb/SciFi calorimeter was achieved using a common timestamp. The AstroPix-v3 sensors exhibit stable performance, reaching a maximum hit efficiency of 68 percent at a bias voltage of -400 V under pion-dominated beam conditions. When combined with the Pb/SciFi calorimeter, the AstroPix layers successfully capture the development of electromagnetic showers. Using Cherenkov-based particle identification, electron-induced events exhibit significantly higher hit multiplicities and broader spatial distributions than pion-induced events, thereby providing clear discrimination between electromagnetic and hadronic showers. These results demonstrate that AstroPix-v3 provides effective, high-granularity imaging of shower development and is well suited as an imaging layer in future calorimeter systems for both collider and space-based experiments.