XPAD: A Photons Counting Pixel Detector for Material Sciences and Small Animal imaging

P. Delpierre (1) , S. Basolo (1) , Jean-François Berar (2) , M. Bordesoule (3) , Nathalie Boudet (2) , P. Breugnon (1) , Bernard Caillot (2) , B. Chantepie (1) , J.C. Clemens (1) , B. Dinkespiler (1) , S. Hustache-Ottini (3) , C. Meessen (1) , M. Menouni (1) , C. Morel (1) , C. Mouget (2) , P. Pangaud (1) , R. Potheau (1) , E. Vigeolas (1)

1 CPPM - Centre de Physique des Particules de Marseille
2 ESRF - European Synchrotron Radiation Facility
3 SSOLEIL - Synchrotron SOLEIL

Experiments on high flux and high brilliance 3rd generation synchrotron X-ray sources are now limited by detector performance. Photon counting hybrid pixel detectors are being investigated as a solution to improve the dynamic range and the readout speed of the available 2D detectors. The XPAD2 is a large surface hybrid pixel detector (68 x 65 mm$^2$) with a dynamic response which ranges from 0.01 photons/pixel/s up to 10$^6$ photons/pixel/s. High resolution data have been recorded using the XPAD2. The comparison with data measured using a conventional setup shows a gain on measurement duration by a factor 20 and on dynamic range. A new generation of pixel detector (XPAD3) is presently under development. For this, a new electronic chip (the XPAD3) has been designed to improve spatial resolution by using 130 $\mu$m pixels and detector efficiency by using CdTe sensors. XPAD2 is also operated with PIXSCAN, a CT-scanner for mice.

Mots clés: photon detector; photon counting; CT-scanner; Hybrid pixels

Domaines: Instrumentations et Détecteurs [physics.ins-det]

P. Delpierre, S. Basolo, Jean-François Berar, M. Bordesoule, Nathalie Boudet, et al.. XPAD: A Photons Counting Pixel Detector for Material Sciences and Small Animal imaging. X Pisa Meeting on Advanced Detectors: Frontier Detectors for Frontier Physics, May 2006, La Biodola, Italy. pp.250-253, ⟨10.1016/j.nima.2006.10.315⟩. ⟨in2p3-00114589⟩