Speaker
Description
The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) is being subjected to the second phase of its upgrade, the so-called EBS (Extremely Brilliant Source) upgrade. The new storage ring will be able to deliver X-ray beams with up a factor 100 increase in brilliance. In order to exploit these extended source capabilities ESRF has launched an ambitious instrumentation programme, focusing on high performance detector systems.
Within this effort, we develop hybrid pixel detectors based on high-Z sensors for photon-counting in order to overcome limitations set to the detection efficiency by existing silicon sensors in the 20-100 keV energy range. In the past, pixelated sensors made of Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) and chromium-compensated Gallium Arsenide (GaAs:Cr) have been used successfully, as sensitive medium. Despite the improvement on the crystal quality over the years, limitations such as time-dependent polarisation effects in CdTe and spatial distortions of the effective pixel shape in GaAs:Cr are impelling the search for alternatives such as Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CdZnTe).
At ESRF we have developed several test modules implementing high-flux CdZnTe pixel sensors provided by Redlen. Each module, consisting of a CdZnTe sensor bonded to a single Timepix chip, is coupled to the MAXIPIX readout system. I will report on results obtained from tests using high energy X-ray sources and monochromatic synchrotron beams.
