Cdznte Detectors For Gamma-Ray Burst Arcsecond Imaging And Spectroscopy (Basis)

A CdZnTe detector array is being developed for the proposed gamma-ray Burst ArcSecond Imaging and Spectroscopy (BASIS) spaceflight mission to accurately locate gamma-ray bursts, determine their distance scale, and measure the physical characteristics of the emission region. Two-dimensional strip detectors with 100 mu m pitch have been fabricated and wire bonded to readout electronics to demonstrate the ability to localize 60 and 122 keV gamma-rays to less than 100 mu m. Radiation damage studies on a CdZnTe detector exposed to MeV neutrons showed a small amount of activation but no detector performance degradation for fluences up to 10(10) neutrons/cm(2). A 1 x 1 in. CdZnTe detector has also been flown on a balloon payload at 115 000 ft in order to measure the CdZnTe background rates.