The Application of Sensl Silicon Photomultipliers in GAMMA–400 Satellite Project

Scientific project GAMMA-400 (Gamma-Astronomy Multifunction Modules Apparatus) relates to the new generation of space observatories for investigation of cosmic γ-emission in the energy band from ∼20 MeV up to several TeV, electron/positron fluxes from ∼1 GeV up to ∼10 TeV and cosmic-ray nuclei fluxes with energies up to ∼1015 eV. The core of the scientific complex is gamma-telescope GAMMA-400. It contains a set of detecting systems using so-called “segmentation” principle and consists of a large amount of scintillation elements (∼1200 by current apparatus design). The utilization of vacuum PMT as the light sensors for scintillation elements arouses a number of serious problems connected with the apparatus weight and dimensions restrictions, power consumption, reliability requirements and so on. An alternative solution – the application of silicon photomultipliers as the light sensors for scintillation detectors is considered.