FASPAX, Commercialization of Fast Area Detectors for Synchrotron light sources

FASPAX (Fermi-Argonne Semiconducting Pixel Array X-ray detector) is proposed as a fast integrating area detector prototype with wide dynamic range for time resolved applications at the upgraded Advanced Photon Source (APS). A burst mode detector with intended 13 MHz image rate, FASPAX also incorporates a novel integration circuit to achieve wide dynamic range, from single photon sensitivity to 105 x-rays/pixel/pulse. This detector will meet requirements necessitated by this beamline upgrade. Increased beam current, number of bunches, bunch spacing and the repetition rate requires a detector such as FASPAX to make full use of the beamline capability for material science research. There’s no commercially available product that can make use of such an enhanced beam. Field Viewers phase I proposal is to take the prototype developed at APS, and complete the R&D to create a full-fledged 15 cm x 15 cm wide area coverage camera. The phase I work is proposed as a 4 stage work plan and these stages are: Project initiation, Voice-of- customer, Development and project closure. At the end of project initiation stage, first milestone is planned in the form of a report that will summarize FASPAX capabilities. Stage 2 work consists of gathering voice of customer and beamline experimental R&D. Field Viewers will complete two milestones during this, staging for experiments and completion of experimental work. Stage 3 is the development stage, where Field Viewers will define the product architecture, conceptual design and detailed product requirement specifications, broken down into system, subsystem requirements , design specifications and risk management matrix. It is envisioned that the FASPAX product will have 5 subsystems: a) Sensor-ASIC, b) Digitizer, c) Data acquisition and control, d) Reconstruction platform and e) Graphical User Interface. The development phase will complete the system architecture, major design choices for the subsystems and ground work to embark on product development in phase II. Field Viewers PI, design infrastructure and research environment along with participation by Dr. Rebecca Bradford from Argonne National Lab creates the right mixture of talent and resources for successful completion of Phase I and subsequently Phase II projects.