publications | paolo lazzaroni

2024

Experimental results of the pFREYA16 ASIC for x-ray ptychography in continuous wave light sources

P. Lazzaroni, M. Hammer , M. Manghisoni , and 5 more authors

Journal of Instrumentation, Dec 2024

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The pFREYA16, prototype Fast Readout for ptYchography Applications with 16 channels, ASIC is a pixellated 8-by-2 readout matrix developed for ptychography experiments based on fourth generation storage ring light sources, also known as diffraction-limited storage rings (DLSR), pushing towards continuous wave operation. The target of the experiment is to obtain a 128-by-128 matrix of pixels, working at a frame rate of 1 MHz with single-photon resolution, as well as low-noise and low-power figures, in a modest-size pixel area of 150 μm × 150 μm. The readout chain is composed of a switch-reset CSA and a semi-Gaussian unipolar RC-CR shaper, and includes signal discrimination, zero-suppression capabilities, and pixel-level analog to digital conversion. The ASIC is also configurable for 5, 9, 18, or 25 keV input photon energy, with a full well capacity of 256 equivalent photons in each mode, and four different peaking times are available for noise optimisation. The paper will focus on the characterisation of the CSA and the shaper stage.
Advancing Sustainable Mobility: A Data Acquisition System for Light Vehicles and Active Mobility

Matteo Verzeroli , Luigi Gaioni , Andrea Galliani , and 3 more authors

Electronics, Oct 2024

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Empowering Smart Mobility with a Component-based Data Acquisition System for Multi-sensor Readout

Matteo Verzeroli , Andrea Galliani , Luca Ghislotti , and 3 more authors

In 2024 19th Conference on Ph.D Research in Microelectronics and Electronics (PRIME) , Jun 2024

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Low-Noise Wide Dynamic Range Charge Sensitive Amplifier in 65 nm CMOS Technology for the Second Flight of the GAPS Experiment

Luca Ghislotti , Paolo Lazzaroni, Massimo Manghisoni , and 1 more author

In 2024 19th Conference on Ph.D Research in Microelectronics and Electronics (PRIME) , Jun 2024

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Energy threshold calibration of the GAPS experiment Si tracker readout electronics

Luca Ghislotti , Mirko Boezio , Lorenzo Fabris , and 6 more authors

Il Nuovo Cimento C, Feb 2024

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Index Air Quality Monitoring for Light and Active Mobility

Stefano Botticini , Elisabetta Comini , Salvatore Dello Iacono , and 9 more authors

Sensors, Feb 2024

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Light and active mobility, as well as multimodal mobility, could significantly contribute to decarbonization. Air quality is a key parameter to monitor the environment in terms of health and leisure benefits. In a possible scenario, wearables and recharge stations could supply information about a distributed monitoring system of air quality. The availability of low-power, smart, low-cost, compact embedded systems, such as Arduino Nicla Sense ME, based on BME688 by Bosch, Reutlingen, Germany, and powered by suitable software tools, can provide the hardware to be easily integrated into wearables as well as in solar-powered EVSE (Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment) for scooters and e-bikes. In this way, each e-vehicle, bike, or EVSE can contribute to a distributed monitoring network providing real-time information about micro-climate and pollution. This work experimentally investigates the capability of the BME688 environmental sensor to provide useful and detailed information about air quality. Initial experimental results from measurements in non-controlled and controlled environments show that BME688 is suited to detect the human-perceived air quality. CO2 readout can also be significant for other gas (e.g., CO), while IAQ (Index for Air Quality, from 0 to 500) is heavily affected by relative humidity, and its significance below 250 is quite low for an outdoor uncontrolled environment.
The GAPS Time-of-Flight Detector

Sydney Feldman , and others

In Proceedings of Science , Feb 2024

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The General Antiparticle Spectrometer (GAPS) Antarctic long duration balloon mission is scheduled for launch during the austral summer of 2024-25. Its novel detection technique, based on exotic atom formation, excitation, and decay, is specifically designed for the detection of slow moving cosmic antiprotons and antideuterons. Such antinuclei are predicted by a wide variety of allowed dark matter models, as well as other astrophysical theories like primordial black holes. There are two main components of the GAPS instrument: a large-area tracker and a surrounding time-of-flight system (TOF). The combination of these two systems allows GAPS to effectively differentiate between species of negatively-charged antinuclei and determine the energy deposition, velocity, and trajectory of particles interacting with the detector. This contribution will focus on the TOF, which determines the velocity of the incoming antiparticle and provides the trigger to the experiment. We will give an overview of the TOF detector, an explanation of relevant electronics, and a report on its construction and preliminary performance. The TOF is composed of 160 thin plastic scintillator paddles ranging in length from 1.5 to 1.8 meters. At each paddle end, signals from six silicon photomultipliers are combined to produce two copies of the resulting waveform: one to form the trigger and one for data readout. This design is optimized for low mass and fast data acquisition while still maintaining good light collection. © Copyright owned by the author(s) under the terms of the Creative Commons.
The identification of the cosmic-ray light nuclei with the GAPS experiment

Riccardo Munini , and others

In Proceedings of Science , Feb 2024

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GAPS (General AntiParticle Spectrometer) is a balloon-borne large-acceptance experiment designed to detect low-energy (< 0.25 GeV/n) cosmic-ray antinuclei during three ∼35-day Antarctic flights, the first of these planned for the 2024-2025 austral summer. The GAPS experiment, currently in preparation for the first flight, consists of a tracker equipped with large-area lithium-drifted silicon detectors and surrounded by a large-acceptance time-of-flight system made of plastic scintillators. This design has been optimized to perform a novel antiparticle identification technique based on an antinucleus capture and the subsequent exotic atom formation and decay, allowing more active target material and a larger geometrical acceptance since no magnet is required. Although detecting the cosmic-ray antinuclei as an indirect dark-matter signature is the primary goal of GAPS, many low-energy cosmic-ray nuclei will also be recorded. Nuclei do not form exotic atoms in the GAPS detectors, and their detection is based on the measurements of the ionization energy depositions, evaluation of the kinetic energy, and the stopping depth relative to the measured velocity. An algorithm was developed to fit the slow-down of particles and antiparticles tracked inside GAPS. The quantities fitted by this algorithm, together with the measured velocity and energy deposition information, allow the identification of protons, deuterons, and helium nuclei and the measurement of their spectra in a low-energy range (< 0.25 GeV/n). The results of this analysis, based on detailed Monte Carlo simulation studies, will be presented in this contribution. © Copyright owned by the author(s) under the terms of the Creative Commons.
Integration and Calibration of the GAPS Antarctic Balloon Payload

Riccardo Munini , and others

In Proceedings of Science , Feb 2024

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With its inaugural Antarctic long-duration balloon mission in December 2024, the General Antiparticle Spectrometer (GAPS) will become the first experiment optimized to detect cosmic-ray antinuclei below 0.25 GeV/n. Detection of a single antideuteron in this energy range would be a smoking-gun signature of new physics, such as dark matter. The GAPS program will also provide a precision antiproton spectrum in a previously unprobed low-energy range, as well as leading sensitivity to antihelium-3. This new parameter space is accessible thanks to a novel particle identification method based on exotic atom formation, de-excitation, and annihilation. The method provides a unique signature for the negatively-charged antinuclei, facilitating excellent rejection of the positive-nucleus background, and does not require a magnet, enabling a large sensitive area for rare events. The GAPS instrument is designed to provide excellent discrimination power for rare events within the power and mass constraints of a long-duration balloon. The time-of-flight, composed of 160 scintillator paddles, provides the system trigger as well as the GAPS energy scale. The 2.5 m3 tracker volume is instrumented with 10-cm-diameter silicon sensors, which serve as the target, X-ray spectrometer, and particle tracker. Together, a large-area radiator and an integrated oscillating heat pipe system cool the payload without a bulky cryostat. This contribution reports the integration and calibration of the GAPS science payload, including the performance of the sensitive detector subsystems, the cooling system, the power distribution, and data acquisition and onboard event processing. © Copyright owned by the author(s) under the terms of the Creative Commons.
The GAPS experiment - a search for light cosmic ray antinuclei

A. Stoessl , and others

In Proceedings of Science , Feb 2024

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The General Anti Particle Spectrometer (GAPS) is a balloon-borne cosmic-ray experiment which is currently in its last phase of construction, undergoing system testing, and scheduled for a long-duration balloon flight from McMurdo Station in the Antarctic in December 2024. Its primary scientific goal is the search for light antinuclei in cosmic rays at kinetic energies below 0.25 GeV/n. This energy region is especially of interest for beyond-the-standard model dark matter searches and is still mostly uncharted. Searches for light antimatter nuclei with energies below 0.25 GeV/n are a novel approach to the search for dark matter because wide range of dark matter models proposes annihilation or decay into matter-antimatter pairs. GAPS will yield unprecedented sensitivity to low-energy antideuterons and will measure the low-energy antiproton spectrum with high statistics and precision. To reach the required sensitivity, the GAPS detector incorporates a new approach for antimatter detection, utilizing a tracker with custom, lithium-drifted silicon detectors, designed to measure the X-ray cascade expected from antimatter capture and charged particles from the subsequent annihilation. It also utilizes a fast time-of-flight system, allowing for a high-precision beta measurement. This proceeding highlights GAPS scientific goals. © Copyright owned by the author(s) under the terms of the Creative Commons.

2023

Experimental results from the characterization of a 32-channels mixed-signal processor for the GAPS experiment

E. Riceputi , M. Manghisoni , V. Re , and 9 more authors

2023 IEEE NSS/MIC RTSD - IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium, Medical Imaging Conference and Room Temperature Semiconductor Detector Conference, Nov 2023

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Characterisation of the pFREYA16 ASIC for low-noise ptychography applications

P. Lazzaroni, M. P. Hammer , M. Manghisoni , and 4 more authors

2023 IEEE NSS/MIC RTSD - IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium, Medical Imaging Conference and Room Temperature Semiconductor Detector Conference, Nov 2023

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A 32-Channel Readout ASIC for X-Ray Spectrometry and Tracking in the GAPS Experiment

Massimo Manghisoni , Luca Ghislotti , Paolo Lazzaroni, and 6 more authors

IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, Nov 2023

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A mixed-signal processor for X-ray spectrometry and tracking in the GAPS experiment

Valerio Re , Luca Ghislotti , Paolo Lazzaroni, and 6 more authors

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Jan 2023

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2022

A Low-Noise Readout Channel for X-Ray Ptychography Applications

P. Lazzaroni, M. Hammer , M. Manghisoni , and 4 more authors

2022 IEEE NSS/MIC RTSD - IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium, Medical Imaging Conference and Room Temperature Semiconductor Detector Conference, Nov 2022

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The 32 Analog Channels Readout for the Long-Flight GAPS Balloon Experiment Tracking System

E. Riceputi , M. Boezio , L. Fabris , and 6 more authors

Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering, Sep 2022

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FALCON readout channel for X-ray ptychography applications

Paolo Lazzaroni, Michael Hammer , Massimo Manghisoni , and 3 more authors

PRIME 2022 - 17th International Conference on Ph.D Research in Microelectronics and Electronics, Proceedings, Jun 2022

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