Capability demonstration of a 3D CdZnTe detector on a high-altitude balloon flight

• Published in: Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment Vol. 1054; p. 168413
• Main Authors: Abraham, Sara, Zhu, Yuefeng, Nowicki, Suzanne, Bloser, Peter, Berry, James, Sandoval, Benigno, Lanctot, Sara, Petryk, Matthew, Deming, Jonathan, Klimenko, Alexei, He, Zhong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier B.V 01.09.2023; Elsevier
• Subjects: Balloon; CdZnTe; Cosmic rays; Gamma-ray; INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY; Planetary science; Balloon; Planetary science; Gamma-ray; CdZnTe; Cosmic rays
• ISSN: 0168-9002; 1872-9576
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nima.2023.168413

In collaboration between the University of Michigan and Los Alamos National Laboratory, a 3D position-sensing CdZnTe (CZT) detector prototype was built and integrated into a high-altitude balloon platform to evaluate its performance in a space-like mixed-radiation environment. The detector prototype, Orion Eagle, was designed to operate in near-vacuum environments without any temperature regulation. Orion Eagle was hand-launched from NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (CSBF) at Fort Sumner, NM on September 26, 2021, and successfully operated throughout a 9-hour flight, which reached 38.5 km in altitude. The flight met its objectives, successfully detecting atmospheric gamma rays and galactic cosmic rays, and raising the Technical Readiness Level from 4 to 6 for large-volume 3D CZT detector technology for space applications. Ionization tracks produced by charged particles create spatial signatures in the detector that are distinguishable from discrete gamma-ray interactions. Therefore, the 3D position-sensing capabilities using pixelated electrodes on a CZT detector can help enable discrimination of background charged particles from gamma-ray events without an anticoincidence shield. The potential for background rejection capability, ambient-temperature operation, gamma-ray coded-aperture and Compton imaging, and near High Purity Germanium (HPGe) energy resolution motivate the use of large-volume 3D CZT imaging spectrometers in future space missions.