Related papers: Light-tight skipper-CCDs for X-ray detection in sp…
We characterize the response of a novel 250 $\mu$m thick, fully-depleted Skipper Charged-Coupled Device (CCD) to visible/near-infrared light with a focus on potential applications for astronomical observations. We achieve stable,…
The development of the Skipper Charge Coupled Devices (Skipper-CCDs) has been a major technological breakthrough for sensing very weak ionizing particles. The sensor allows to reach the ultimate sensitivity of silicon material as a charge…
The Dark matter Nanosatellite Equipped with Skipper Sensors (DarkNESS) mission is a 6U CubeSat designed to search for X-ray lines from decaying dark matter using Skipper-CCDs. Thick, fully-depleted p-channel Skipper-CCDs provide low readout…
Future X-ray astrophysics missions will survey large areas of the sky with unparalleled sensitivity, enabled by lightweight, high-resolution optics. These optics inherently produce curved focal surfaces with radii as small as 2 m, requiring…
We have developed a non-destructive readout system that uses a floating-gate amplifier on a thick, fully depleted charge coupled device (CCD) to achieve ultra-low readout noise of 0.068 e- rms/pix. This is the first time that discrete…
Experiments aiming to directly detect dark matter through particle recoils can achieve energy thresholds of $\mathcal{O}(1\,\mathrm{eV})$. In this regime, ionization signals from small-angle Compton scatters of environmental $\gamma$-rays…
Charge Coupled Devices (CCDs) have been successfully used in several low energy X-ray astronomical satellite over the past two decades. Their high energy resolution and high spatial resolution make them an perfect tool for low energy…
This work briefly discusses the potential applications of the Skipper-CCD technology in astronomy and reviews its current use in dark matter and neutrino experiments. An overview of the ongoing efforts to build multi-kilogram experiments…
Skipper Charge-Coupled Devices (Skipper-CCDs) are ultra-low-threshold detectors capable of detecting energy deposits in silicon at the eV scale. Increasingly used in rare-event searches, one of the major challenges in these experiments is…
Multiple-Amplifier Sensing (MAS) charge-coupled devices (CCDs) have recently been shown to be promising silicon detectors that meet noise sensitivity requirements for next generation Stage-5 spectroscopic surveys and potentially, future…
In recent years, tremendous progress has been made on complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) sensors for applications as X-ray detectors. To shield the visible light in X-ray detection, a blocking filter of aluminum is commonly…
We present results from the characterization and optimization of six Skipper CCDs for use in a prototype focal plane for the SOAR Integral Field Spectrograph (SIFS). We tested eight Skipper CCDs and selected six for SIFS based on…
X-ray charge-coupled devices (CCDs) are the workhorse detectors of modern X-ray astronomy. Typically covering the 0.3-10.0 keV energy range, CCDs are able to detect photoelectric absorption edges and K shell lines from most abundant metals.…
Niobium Titanium nitride (NbTiN) based superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs) are known for their high performance across a wide spectral range, from the X-ray to the mid-infrared. Nonetheless, fabrication challenges and…
The skipper CCD is a special type of charge coupled device in which the readout noise can be reduced to sub-electron levels by averaging independent measurements of the same charge. Thus the charge in the pixels can be determined by…
Skipper Charge-Coupled Devices (Skipper-CCDs) are a leading technology in the search for sub-GeV dark matter and coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering. A key background for rare-event searches with these detectors arises from…
Thin filters and gas tight windows are used in Space to protect sensitive X-ray detectors from out-of-band electromagnetic radiation, low-energy particles, and molecular contamination. Though very thin and made of light materials, filters…
We have been developing P-channel Charge-Coupled Devices (CCDs) for the upcoming X-ray Astronomy Satellite XRISM, planned to be launched in 2021. While the basic design of the CCD camera (Soft X-ray Imager: SXI) is almost the same as that…
Low noise CCDs fully-depleted up to 675 micrometers have been identified as a unique tool for Dark Matter searches and low energy neutrino physics. The charge collection efficiency (CCE) for these detectors is a critical parameter for the…
We present the first on-sky results from an ultra-low-readout-noise Skipper CCD focal plane prototype for the SOAR Integral Field Spectrograph (SIFS). The Skipper CCD focal plane consists of four 6k x 1k, 15 $\mu$m pixel, fully-depleted,…