SGARFACE: a novel detector for microsecond gamma ray bursts

The Short GAmma Ray Front Air Cherenkov Experiment (SGARFACE) is operated at the Whipple Observatory utilizing the Whipple 10 m γ-ray telescope. SGARFACE is sensitive to γ-ray bursts of more than 100 MeV with durations from 100 ns to 35 μs and provides a fluence sensitivity as low as 0.8 γ-rays/m2 above 200 MeV (0.05 γ-rays/m2 above 2 GeV) and allows to record the burst time structure.