arXiv subjects

S. E. Holland

Publications and source records attributed to S. E. Holland.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

Confirmation of the spectral excess in DAMIC at SNOLAB with skipper CCDs

We present results from a 3.25 kg-day target exposure of two silicon charge-coupled devices (CCDs), each with 24 megapixels and skipper readout, deployed in the DAMIC setup at SNOLAB. With a reduction in pixel readout noise of a factor of 10 relative to the previous detector, we investigate the excess population of low-energy events in the CCD bulk previously observed above expected backgrounds. We address the dominant systematic uncertainty of the previous analysis through a depth fiducialization designed to reject surface backgrounds on the CCDs. The measured bulk ionization spectrum confirms the presence of an excess population of low-energy events in the CCD target with characteristic rate of ${\sim}7$ events per kg-day and electron-equivalent energies of ${\sim}80~$eV, whose origin remains unknown.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2022

Solid State Detectors and Tracking for Snowmass

Tracking detectors are of vital importance for collider-based high energy physics (HEP) experiments. The primary purpose of tracking detectors is the precise reconstruction of charged particle trajectories and the reconstruction of secondary vertices. The performance requirements from the community posed by the future collider experiments require an evolution of tracking systems, necessitating the development of new techniques, materials and technologies in order to fully exploit their physics potential. In this article we summarize the discussions and conclusions of the 2022 Snowmass Instrumentation Frontier subgroup on Solid State and Tracking Detectors (Snowmass IF03).

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2022

Fast Timing With Silicon Carbide Low Gain Avalanche Detectors

4H-Silicon Carbide, when considered as a material for the fabrication of Low Gain Avalanche Detectors for particle timing and position measurement, offers potential advantages over Silicon. We discuss an ongoing study of this material aimed at the fabrication and test of prototype fast timing sensors. This work is well aligned with technical directions identified in the recent Department of Energy study, Basic Research Needs for High Energy Physics Detector Research and Development.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2017

Quantum efficiency modeling for a thick back-illuminated astronomical CCD

The quantum efficiency and reflectivity of thick, back-illuminated CCD's being fabricated at LBNL for astronomical applications are modeled and compared with experiment. The treatment differs from standard thin-film optics in that (a) absorption is permitted in any film, (b) the 200--500~$μ$m thick silicon substrate is considered as a thin film in order to observe the fringing behavior at long wavelengths, and (c) by using approximate boundary conditions, absorption in the surface films is separated from absorption in the substrate. For the quantum efficiency measurements the CCD's are normally operated as CCD's, usually at $T = -140^\circ$C, and at higher temperatures as photodiodes. They are mounted on mechanical substrates. Reflectivity is measured on air-backed wafer samples at room temperature. The agreement between model expectation and quantum efficiency measurement is in general satisfactory.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2015

The Dark Energy Camera

The Dark Energy Camera is a new imager with a 2.2-degree diameter field of view mounted at the prime focus of the Victor M. Blanco 4-meter telescope on Cerro Tololo near La Serena, Chile. The camera was designed and constructed by the Dark Energy Survey Collaboration, and meets or exceeds the stringent requirements designed for the wide-field and supernova surveys for which the collaboration uses it. The camera consists of a five element optical corrector, seven filters, a shutter with a 60 cm aperture, and a CCD focal plane of 250 micron thick fully-depleted CCDs cooled inside a vacuum Dewar. The 570 Mpixel focal plane comprises 62 2kx4k CCDs for imaging and 12 2kx2k CCDs for guiding and focus. The CCDs have 15 microns x15 microns pixels with a plate scale of 0.263 arc sec per pixel. A hexapod system provides state-of-the-art focus and alignment capability. The camera is read out in 20 seconds with 6-9 electrons readout noise. This paper provides a technical description of the camera's engineering, construction, installation, and current status.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2014

Physics of Fully Depleted CCDs

In this work we present simple, physics-based models for two effects that have been noted in the fully depleted CCDs that are presently used in the Dark Energy Survey Camera. The first effect is the observation that the point-spread function increases slightly with the signal level. This is explained by considering the effect on charge-carrier diffusion due to the reduction in the magnitude of the channel potential as collected signal charge acts to partially neutralize the fixed charge in the depleted channel. The resulting reduced voltage drop across the carrier drift region decreases the vertical electric field and increases the carrier transit time. The second effect is the observation of low-level, concentric ring patterns seen in uniformly illuminated images. This effect is shown to be most likely due to lateral deflection of charge during the transit of the photogenerated carriers to the potential wells as a result of lateral electric fields. The lateral fields are a result of space charge in the fully depleted substrates arising from resistivity variations inherent to the growth of the high-resistivity silicon used to fabricate the CCDs.

astro-ph.IM↗