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Abstract

Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) are reliable and powerful detectors for gamma-ray astronomy, a branch of astroparticle physics that studies Very High Energy (VHE) photons produced by non-thermal processes in the Universe. These telescopes allow us to capture the Cherenkov light emitted by the particles of a gamma-ray induced extensive air shower (EAS); by analyzing these images it is possible to reconstruct the energy and direction of the primary particle. The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) will be the next generation observatory in this field, equipped with up to one hundred telescopes of different sizes in two different sites in the northern and southern hemispheres. This thesis is dedicated to the Small-Sized Telescopes (SSTs), with a specific focus on the development of their detectors, which are silicon photomultiplier-based cameras, and of a facility required to verify the performance and functionality of all the cameras intended for the southern site of CTA. The scientific context of gamma-ray astronomy is presented first, followed by a description of the IACT technique and of the CTA observatory. SSTs are then introduced, with a particular emphasis on silicon photomultipliers and on the final design of the SST camera. An entire chapter is then dedicated to the study and development of the commissioning facility for such detectors performed at the Max Planck Institut f¨ur Kernphysik in Heidelberg, Germany. Finally, the last chapter centres on initial measurements carried out on one of the first SST camera modules, along with an analysis of the camera’s heat dissipation.