Speaker
Description
The High Energy cosmic-Radiation Detection (HERD) facility will be one of the future astronomy missions on board the Chinese Space Station (CSS).
The main objective of HERD is the direct detection of cosmic rays towards the “knee” region (∼ 1 PeV), with an excellent energy resolution (< 1% for electrons and photons at 200 GeV and 20% for nuclei from 100 GeV to PeV) and an
unprecedented acceptance (> 1 m2sr). The CSS assembly should be completed by 2022, and the installation of HERD on the CSS is planned for 2025, for an operation of at least 10 years. HERD is composed of an almost cubic calorimeter, a tracking system, plastic scintillator detectors and a transition radiation detector.
The tracker will provide a full coverage of the 5 sensitive sides of the calorimeter, allowing for a sub-degree angular resolution and multiple redundant and independent measurements of the charge of the nuclei. Two options are considered, the first one is a tracker fully equipped with silicon strip detectors. In the second option, the four side trackers are made of scintillating fibres connected to SiPM arrays.
This talk will describe the scintillating fibre tracker option. We will present the tracker design, the DAQ electronics studies as well as the SiPM array models taken into consideration. The results of SiPM array characterisation tests, as well as of prototype fibre module tests in particle beams at CERN will be presented. We will also mention the space qualification tests necessary to validate the detector design.
