Silicon photo-multiplier readouts for scintillator-based gamma-ray detectors in space

New scintillator materials have been shown to hold great potential for low-cost, reliable gamma-ray detectors in high-energy astronomy and solar physics. Commercially available silicon photo-multipliers (SiPMs) promise to make scintillator-based instruments even more attractive by reducing mass and power requirements. SiPMs have by now been shown to perform well as readouts for scintillator gamma-ray detectors in the laboratory. We present results from ongoing work to investigate whether SiPMs are appropriate for use in space, including the Monte Carlo modeling of the light collection in a small LaBr₃/SiPM spectrometer scheduled to fly on a high-altitude balloon flight in 2011.