Fabrication of low-cost, large-area prototype Si(Li) detectors for the GAPS experiment

A Si(Li) detector fabrication procedure has been developed with the aim of satisfying the unique requirements of the GAPS (General Antiparticle Spectrometer) experiment. Si(Li) detectors are particularly well-suited to the GAPS detection scheme, in which several planes of detectors act as the target to slow and capture an incoming antiparticle into an exotic atom, as well as the spectrometer and tracker to measure the resulting decay X-rays and annihilation products. These detectors must provide the absorption depth, energy resolution, tracking efficiency, and active area necessary for this technique, all within the significant temperature, power, and cost constraints of an Antarctic long-duration balloon flight. We report here on the fabrication and performance of prototype 2′′-diameter, 1–1.25 mm-thick, single-strip Si(Li) detectors that provide the necessary X-ray energy resolution of ∼4 keV for a cost per unit area that is far below that of previously-acquired commercial detectors. This fabrication procedure is currently being optimized for the 4′′-diameter, 2.5 mm-thick, multi-strip geometry that will be used for the GAPS flight detectors.
NASA (Grant NNX17AB44G)
National Science Foundation (Award 1202958 and Grant 1122374)