Achieving Single-Electron Sensitivity at Enhanced Speed in Fully Depleted CCDs with Double-Gate MOSFETs.

We introduce a new output amplifier for fully depleted thick p-channel CCDs based on double-gate MOSFETs. The charge amplifier is an n-type MOSFET specifically designed and operated to couple the fully depleted CCD with high charge-transfer efficiency. The junction coupling between the CCD and MOSFET channels has enabled high sensitivity, demonstrating readout noise of 0.74 e_{rms}^{-}/pix in one pixel charge measurement. We have also demonstrated the nondestructive readout capability of the device. Single-electron and single-photon per pixel counting in the entire CCD pixel array has been made possible through the averaging of ten samples, achieving 0.15 e_{rms}^{-}/pix in a pixel readout time of 2.74 ms. We have demonstrated fully depleted CCD readout with better performance than the floating diffusion and floating gate amplifiers available today, in both single and multisampling regimes, boasting at least 6 times the speed of floating gate amplifiers.

Multiplexed Readout for an Experiment with a Large Number of Channels Using Single-Electron Sensitivity Skipper-CCDs.

This paper presents the implementation of a multiplexed analog readout electronics system that can achieve single-electron counting using Skipper-CCDs with non-destructive readout. The proposed system allows the best performance of the sensors to be maintained, with sub-electron noise-level operation, while maintaining low-bandwidth data transfer, a minimum number of analog-to-digital converters (ADC) and low disk storage requirement with zero added multiplexing time, even for the simultaneous operation of thousands of channels. These features are possible with a combination of analog charge pile-up, sample and hold circuits and analog multiplexing. The implementation also aims to use the minimum number of components in circuits to keep compatibility with high-channel-density experiments using Skipper-CCDs for low-threshold particle detection applications. Performance details and experimental results using a sensor with 16 output stages are presented along with a review of the circuit design considerations.

SENSEI: Direct-Detection Constraints on Sub-GeV Dark Matter from a Shallow Underground Run Using a Prototype Skipper CCD.

We present new direct-detection constraints on eV-to-GeV dark matter interacting with electrons using a prototype detector of the Sub-Electron-Noise Skipper-CCD Experimental Instrument. The results are based on data taken in the MINOS cavern at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. We focus on data obtained with two distinct readout strategies. For the first strategy, we read out the Skipper CCD continuously, accumulating an exposure of 0.177 g day. While we observe no events containing three or more electrons, we find a large one- and two-electron background event rate, which we attribute to spurious events induced by the amplifier in the Skipper-CCD readout stage. For the second strategy, we take five sets of data in which we switch off all amplifiers while exposing the Skipper CCD for 120 ks, and then read out the data through the best prototype amplifier. We find a one-electron event rate of (3.51±0.10)×10^{-3} events/pixel/day, which is almost 2 orders of magnitude lower than the one-electron event rate observed in the continuous-readout data, and a two-electron event rate of (3.18_{-0.55}^{+0.86})×10^{-5} events/pixel/day. We again observe no events containing three or more electrons, for an exposure of 0.069 g day. We use these data to derive world-leading constraints on dark matter-electron scattering for masses between 500 keV and 5 MeV, and on dark-photon dark matter being absorbed by electrons for a range of masses below 12.4 eV.

Single-Electron and Single-Photon Sensitivity with a Silicon Skipper CCD.

We have developed ultralow-noise electronics in combination with repetitive, nondestructive readout of a thick, fully depleted charge-coupled device (CCD) to achieve an unprecedented noise level of 0.068 e^{-} rms/pixel. This is the first time that discrete subelectron readout noise has been achieved reproducible over millions of pixels on a stable, large-area detector. This enables the contemporaneous, discrete, and quantized measurement of charge in pixels, irrespective of whether they contain zero electrons or thousands of electrons. Thus, the resulting CCD detector is an ultra-sensitive calorimeter. It is also capable of counting single photons in the optical and near-infrared regime. Implementing this innovative non-destructive readout system has a negligible impact on CCD design and fabrication, and there are nearly immediate scientific applications. As a particle detector, this CCD will have unprecedented sensitivity to low-mass dark matter particles and coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering, while future astronomical applications may include direct imaging and spectroscopy of exoplanets.