Design of a High-Dynamic-Range Prototype Readout System for VLAST Calorimeter

In the future, the Very Large Area gamma-ray Space Telescope (VLAST) is expected to observe high-energy electrons and gamma rays in the MeV to TeV range with unprecedented acceptance. As part of the detector suite, a high-energy imaging calorimeter (HEIC) is currently being developed as a homogeneous calorimeter that utilizes long bismuth germanate (BGO) scintillation crystals as both absorbers and detectors. To accurately measure the energy deposition in the BGO bar of HEIC, a high-dynamic-range readout method using a silicon photoMultiplier (SiPM) and multiphotodiode (PD) with different active areas has been proposed. A prototype readout system that adopts multichannel charge measurement ASICs was also developed to read out the combined system of SiPMs and PDs. Preliminary tests confirmed the feasibility of the readout scheme, which is expected to have a dynamic range close to 106.