X-ray characterization of fully-depleted p-channel Skipper-CCDs for the DarkNESS mission
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arXiv
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| Autori principali: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Natura: | Preprint |
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2026
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| author | Alpine, Phoenix Botti, Ana M. Cervantes-Vergara, Brenda A. Chavez, Claudio R. Chierchie, Fernando Drlica-Wagner, Alex Estrada, Juan Etzion, Erez Lembeck, Michael Maggi, Pilar López Noonan, Joseph Roach, Brandon Saffold, Nathan Tiffenberg, Javier |
| author_facet | Alpine, Phoenix Botti, Ana M. Cervantes-Vergara, Brenda A. Chavez, Claudio R. Chierchie, Fernando Drlica-Wagner, Alex Estrada, Juan Etzion, Erez Lembeck, Michael Maggi, Pilar López Noonan, Joseph Roach, Brandon Saffold, Nathan Tiffenberg, Javier |
| contents | 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 noise and high quantum efficiency for 1-10 keV X-rays, but their X-ray performance has not yet been demonstrated in the space environment. DarkNESS will operate in low-Earth orbit, where trapped protons induce displacement damage in the sensor that increases charge-transfer inefficiency and degrades the X-ray energy resolution. This work measures the X-ray line response of Skipper-CCDs before and after proton irradiation and quantifies the associated degradation. A sensor was exposed to 217 MeV protons at a fluence of 8.4 x 10^10 protons cm^-2, corresponding to a displacement-damage dose more than an order of magnitude above the three-year expectation for representative mid-inclination and Sun-synchronous low-Earth orbits. A 55Fe source was used to compare the energy resolution of the beam-exposed quadrant to adjacent unexposed quadrants and a non-irradiated reference sensor. These measurements provide a quantitative assessment of radiation-induced spectral degradation in Skipper-CCDs and enable an estimate of the end-of-life X-ray energy resolution expected for DarkNESS operation in low-Earth orbit. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_02461 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | X-ray characterization of fully-depleted p-channel Skipper-CCDs for the DarkNESS mission Alpine, Phoenix Botti, Ana M. Cervantes-Vergara, Brenda A. Chavez, Claudio R. Chierchie, Fernando Drlica-Wagner, Alex Estrada, Juan Etzion, Erez Lembeck, Michael Maggi, Pilar López Noonan, Joseph Roach, Brandon Saffold, Nathan Tiffenberg, Javier Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics Space Physics 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 noise and high quantum efficiency for 1-10 keV X-rays, but their X-ray performance has not yet been demonstrated in the space environment. DarkNESS will operate in low-Earth orbit, where trapped protons induce displacement damage in the sensor that increases charge-transfer inefficiency and degrades the X-ray energy resolution. This work measures the X-ray line response of Skipper-CCDs before and after proton irradiation and quantifies the associated degradation. A sensor was exposed to 217 MeV protons at a fluence of 8.4 x 10^10 protons cm^-2, corresponding to a displacement-damage dose more than an order of magnitude above the three-year expectation for representative mid-inclination and Sun-synchronous low-Earth orbits. A 55Fe source was used to compare the energy resolution of the beam-exposed quadrant to adjacent unexposed quadrants and a non-irradiated reference sensor. These measurements provide a quantitative assessment of radiation-induced spectral degradation in Skipper-CCDs and enable an estimate of the end-of-life X-ray energy resolution expected for DarkNESS operation in low-Earth orbit. |
| title | X-ray characterization of fully-depleted p-channel Skipper-CCDs for the DarkNESS mission |
| topic | Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics Space Physics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.02461 |