XNAP: a hybrid pixel detector with nanosecond resolution for time resolved synchrotron radiation studies

The XNAP collaboration is constructing a hybrid pixel X-ray detector based on a monolithic silicon avalanche photodiode (APD) sensor array aiming at applications in synchrotron radiation facilities. The 2D detector is capable of identifying which individual electron bunch produces each detected X-ray photon, even when the storage ring operates in multibunch filling modes. This instrument is intended to be used in X-ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy and Nuclear Resonance experiments and serve as a demonstrator for various kind of time resolved diffraction and scattering applications as well as a very high count rate device. The detector is a 1 kilopixel device with 280 μm pitch that implements both counting mode up to MHz frame rates and event-by-event readout with sub-nanosecond time resolution. The paper describes the detector design and some results obtained with small 4×4 pixel prototypes that have been built and measured to make and validate the most critical choices for the final detector.