The camera of the ASTRI SST-2M prototype for the Cherenkov Telescope Array

In the context of the Cherenkov Telescope Array observatory project, the ASTRI SST-2M end-to-end prototype telescope, entirely supported by the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics, is designed to detect cosmic primary gamma ray energies from few TeV up to hundreds of TeV. The ASTRI SST-2M prototype camera is part of the challenging synergy of novel optical design, camera sensors, front-end electronics and telescope structure design. The camera is devoted to imaging and recording the Cherenkov images of air showers induced by primary particles into the Earth’s atmosphere. In order to match the energy range mentioned above, the camera must be able to trigger events within a few tens of nanoseconds with high detection efficiency. This is obtained by combining silicon photo-multiplier sensors and suitable front-end electronics. Due to the characteristic imprint of the Cherenkov image that is a function of the shower core distance, the signal dynamic range of the pixels and consequently of the front-end electronics must span three orders of magnitude (1:1000 photo-electrons). These and many other features of the ASTRI SST-2M prototype camera will be reported in this contribution together with a complete overview of the mechanical and thermodynamic camera system.