Instrumentation of the hard x-ray telescope mission

Paul Gorenstein

doi:10.1117/12.254021

18 October 1996 Instrumentation of the hard x-ray telescope mission

Paul Gorenstein

Proceedings Volume 2806, Gamma-Ray and Cosmic-Ray Detectors, Techniques, and Missions; (1996) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.254021
Event: SPIE's 1996 International Symposium on Optical Science, Engineering, and Instrumentation, 1996, Denver, CO, United States

Abstract

The hard x-ray telescope (HXT) was selected for study as a possible new intermediate size mission for the early 21st century. Its principal attributes are: (1) multiwavelength observing with a system of focusing telescopes that collectively observe from the UV to over 1 MeV, (2) much higher sensitivity and much better angular resolution in the 10 - 100 keV band, and (3) higher sensitivity for detecting gamma ray lines of known energy in the 100 keV to 1 MeV band. The institutions collaborating in the study are: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Marshall Space Flight Center, Naval Research Laboratory, Goddard Space Flight Center, Argonne National Laboratory, Danish Space Research Institute, Osservatorio Astronomica di Brera (Merate), and Centre d'Etudes Spatiale des Rayonnements (Toulouse). This paper emphasizes the instrumentation development aspects of the concept study which is also of interest to other possible missions observing hard x rays. The instrumentation includes several grazing incidence double conical telescopes with multilayer coatings that focus up to 100 keV and a single Laue crystal telescope that functions to 1 MeV. The detectors which are relatively small thanks to focusing include CCDs, and germanium, and/or CdZnTe position sensitive arrays.

Citation Download Citation

Paul Gorenstein "Instrumentation of the hard x-ray telescope mission", Proc. SPIE 2806, Gamma-Ray and Cosmic-Ray Detectors, Techniques, and Missions, (18 October 1996); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.254021

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