HSP was selected for the NASA Astrophysics Science SmallSat Study (AS3) program
as a SmallSat mission concept that will be proposed for a 1 – 2 year science mission to demonstrate performance and cost goals to enable a future Explorer-class SmallSat Constellation mission for the first simultaneous full-sky imager with 2X finer resolution. HSP is a 36 x 36deg (FWHM) coded aperture telescope with 16 x 16 CdZnTe detectors, each 20 x 20 x 3mm with 32 x 32 0.6mm pixels and ~1.5keV energy resolution. The 1024 cm^2 HSP imaging detector array views the sky through the Tungsten coded aperture mask (0.7 mm pixels) at 68cm, providing 4’ imaging and <30” source positions over the 3 – 200 keV band. This is mounted on a Blue Canyon Technologies (BCT) SmallSat (S5) bus, with ~10arcsec pointing and star camera aspect, extends the capabilities of Swift/BAT and INTEGRAL/IBIS. HSP will promptly localize long and short GRBs and outbursts of X-ray transients: from nearby M dwarf flares, to BH-LMXB outbursts, Blazar flares and Jetted TDEs. HSP will daily-monitor the Galactic Bulge and adjacent Galactic plane and > 2 nearby OB association regions for 1 yr, providing high cadence light curves of black hole X-ray binaries (with low and high mass companions) in the Galaxy. HSP matches the on-axis sensitivity of Swift/BAT in the 15 – 200 keV band with 5X finer spatial resolution, and the simultaneous 3 – 15 keV imaging and spectra surpass MAXI with 15X finer spatial resolution, all within an ESPA class mission in LEO at ~500-600 km and <~30 deg inclination.
Wirebonds, although proven for space application and perceived necessary for hybrid sensors like CdZnTe (CZT) detectors, introduce assembly complexity and undesirable gaps between detector units. Thus, they pose a serious challenge in building a low cost large area detector. We are developing Through-Silicon Vias (TSVs) to make all connections (both power and data) through ASICs, which will eliminate wirebonds and enable simple direct flip-chip bonding between the ASIC and a substrate electronics layer. TSVs also enable a more compact layout of the ASIC, which reduces the inactive area of the detector plane, and thus enables nearly gaplessly tilable detector arrays. We demonstrate the first successful TSV implementation on ASICs used for CZT detectors onboard the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) mission as part of our program to develop large area CZT imagers for wide field coded aperture imaging.
ISS-Lobster is a wide-field X-ray transient detector proposed to be deployed on the International Space Station. Through its unique imaging X-ray optics that allow a 30 deg by 30 deg FoV, a 1 arc min position resolution and a 1.6x10-11 erg/(sec cm2) sensitivity in 2000 sec, ISS-Lobster will observe numerous events per year of X-ray transients related to compact objects, including: tidal disruptions of stars by supermassive black holes, supernova shock breakouts, neutron star bursts and superbursts, high redshift Gamma-Ray Bursts, and perhaps most exciting, X-ray counterparts of gravitational wave detections involving stellar mass and possibly supermassive black holes. The mission includes a 3-axis gimbal system that allows fast Target of Opportunity pointing, and a small gamma-ray burst monitor. In this article we focus on ISS-Lobster measurements of X-ray counterparts of detections by the world-wide ground-based gravitational wave network.
X-ray polarimetry promises to give qualitatively new information about high-energy astrophysical sources, such
as binary black hole systems, micro-quasars, active galactic nuclei, and gamma-ray bursts. We designed, built and
tested a hard X-ray polarimeter, X-Calibur, to be used in the focal plane of the InFOCμS grazing incidence hard
X-ray telescope. X-Calibur combines a low-Z Compton scatterer with a CZT detector assembly to measure the
polarization of 20−60 keV X-rays making use of the fact that polarized photons Compton scatter preferentially
perpendicular to the electric field orientation; in principal, a similar space-borne experiment could be operated
in the 5 − 100 keV regime. X-Calibur achieves a high detection efficiency of order unity.
We present the VOEventNet infrastructure for large-scale rapid follow-up of astronomical events, including selection,
annotation, machine intelligence, and coordination of observations. The VOEvent standard is central to this vision, with
distributed and replicated services rather than centralized facilities. We also describe some of the event brokers, services,
and software that are connected to the network. These technologies will become more important in the coming years,
with new event streams from Gaia, LOFAR, LIGO, LSST, and many others.
X-ray polarimetry promises to give qualitatively new information about high-energy astrophysical sources, such
as binary black hole systems, micro-quasars, active galactic nuclei, and gamma-ray bursts. We designed, built and
tested a hard X-ray polarimeter X-Calibur to be used in the focal plane of the InFOCμS grazing incidence hard
X-ray telescope. X-Calibur combines a low-Z Compton scatterer with a CZT detector assembly to measure the
polarization of 10-80 keV X-rays making use of the fact that polarized photons Compton scatter preferentially
perpendicular to the electric field orientation. X-Calibur achieves a high detection efficiency of order unity.
The Energetic X-ray Imaging Survey Telescope (EXIST) is designed to i) use the birth of stellar mass black holes, as
revealed by cosmic Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs), as probes of the very first stars and galaxies to exist in the Universe.
Both their extreme luminosity (~104 times larger than the most luminous quasars) and their hard X-ray detectability over
the full sky with wide-field imaging make them ideal "back-lights" to measure cosmic structure with X-ray, optical and
near-IR (nIR) spectra over many sight lines to high redshift. The full-sky imaging detection and rapid followup narrowfield
imaging and spectroscopy allow two additional primary science objectives: ii) novel surveys of supermassive black
holes (SMBHs) accreting as very luminous but rare quasars, which can trace the birth and growth of the first SMBHs as
well as quiescent SMBHs (non-accreting) which reveal their presence by X-ray flares from the tidal disruption of
passing field stars; and iii) a multiwavelength Time Domain Astrophysics (TDA) survey to measure the temporal
variability and physics of a wide range of objects, from birth to death of stars and from the thermal to non-thermal
Universe. These science objectives are achieved with the telescopes and mission as proposed for EXIST described here.
ProtoEXIST1 is a pathfinder for the EXIST-HET, a coded aperture hard X-ray telescope with a 4.5 m2 CZT
detector plane a 90x70 degree field of view to be flown as the primary instrument on the EXIST mission and
is intended to monitor the full sky every 3 h in an effort to locate GRBs and other high energy transients.
ProtoEXIST1 consists of a 256 cm2 tiled CZT detector plane containing 4096 pixels composed of an 8x8 array
of individual 1.95 cm x 1.95 cm x 0.5 cm CZT detector modules each with a 8 x 8 pixilated anode configured
as a coded aperture telescope with a fully coded 10° x 10° field of view employing passive side shielding and
an active CsI anti-coincidence rear shield, recently completed its maiden flight out of Ft. Sumner, NM on the
9th of October 2009. During the duration of its 6 hour flight on-board calibration of the detector plane was
carried out utilizing a single tagged 198.8 nCi Am-241 source along with the simultaneous measurement of the
background spectrum and an observation of Cygnus X-1. Here we recount the events of the flight and report
on the detector performance in a near space environment. We also briefly discuss ProtoEXIST2: the next
stage of detector development which employs the NuSTAR ASIC enabling finer (32×32) anode pixilation. When
completed ProtoEXIST2 will consist of a 256 cm2 tiled array and be flown simultaneously with the ProtoEXIST1
telescope.
The hard X-ray sky now being studied by INTEGRAL and Swift and soon by NuSTAR is rich with energetic phenomena
and highly variable non-thermal phenomena on a broad range of timescales. The High Energy Telescope (HET) on the
proposed Energetic X-ray Imaging Survey Telescope (EXIST) mission will repeatedly survey the full sky for rare and
luminous hard X-ray phenomena at unprecedented sensitivities. It will detect and localize (<20", at 5σ threshold) X-ray
sources quickly for immediate followup identification by two other onboard telescopes - the Soft X-ray imager (SXI)
and Optical/Infrared Telescope (IRT). The large array (4.5 m2) of imaging (0.6 mm pixel) CZT detectors in the HET, a
coded-aperture telescope, will provide unprecedented high sensitivity (~0.06 mCrab Full Sky in a 2 year continuous
scanning survey) in the 5 - 600 keV band. The large field of view (90° × 70°) and zenith scanning with alternating-orbital
nodding motion planned for the first 2 years of the mission will enable nearly continuous monitoring of the full
sky. A 3y followup pointed mission phase provides deep UV-Optical-IR-Soft X-ray and Hard X-ray imaging and
spectroscopy for thousands of sources discovered in the Survey. We review the HET design concept and report the
recent progress of the CZT detector development, which is underway through a series of balloon-borne wide-field hard
X-ray telescope experiments, ProtoEXIST. We carried out a successful flight of the first generation of fine pixel large
area CZT detectors (ProtoEXIST1) on Oct 9, 2009. We also summarize our future plan (ProtoEXIST2 & 3) for the
technology development needed for the HET.
KEYWORDS: Sensors, X-rays, X-ray telescopes, Space telescopes, Coded apertures, X-ray detectors, CMOS sensors, Space operations, Calibration, Digital signal processing
The JANUS mission concept is designed to study the high redshift universe using a small, agile Explorer class
observatory. The primary science goals of JANUS are to use high redshift (6<z<12) gamma ray bursts and quasars to
explore the formation history of the first stars in the early universe and to study contributions to reionization. The X-Ray
Coded Aperture Telescope (XCAT) and the Near-IR Telescope (NIRT) are the two primary instruments on JANUS.
XCAT has been designed to detect bright X-ray flashes (XRFs) and gamma ray bursts (GRBs) in the 1-20 keV energy
band over a wide field of view (4 steradians), thus facilitating the detection of z>6 XRFs/GRBs, which can be further
studied by other instruments. XCAT would use a coded mask aperture design with hybrid CMOS Si detectors. It would
be sensitive to XRFs and GRBs with flux in excess of approximately 240 mCrab. In order to obtain redshift
measurements and accurate positions from the NIRT, the spacecraft is designed to rapidly slew to source positions
following a GRB trigger from XCAT. XCAT instrument design parameters and science goals are presented in this paper.
The Energetic X-ray Imaging Survey Telescope (EXIST) is a proposed next generation multi-wavelength survey
mission. The primary instrument is a High Energy telescope (HET) that conducts the deepest survey for Gamma-ray
Bursts (GRBs), obscured-accreting and dormant Supermassive Black Holes and Transients of all varieties for immediate
followup studies by the two secondary instruments: a Soft X-ray Imager (SXI) and an Optical/Infrared Telescope (IRT).
EXIST will explore the early Universe using high redshift GRBs as cosmic probes and survey black holes on all scales.
The HET is a coded aperture telescope employing a large array of imaging CZT detectors (4.5 m2, 0.6 mm pixel) and a
hybrid Tungsten mask. We review the current HET concept which follows an intensive design revision by the HET
imaging working group and the recent engineering studies in the Instrument and Mission Design Lab at the Goddard
Space Flight Center. The HET will locate GRBs and transients quickly (<10-30 sec) and accurately (< 20") for rapid
(< 1-3 min) onboard followup soft X-ray and optical/IR (0.3-2.2 μm) imaging and spectroscopy. The broad energy
band (5-600 keV) and the wide field of view (~90º × 70º at 10% coding fraction) are optimal for capturing GRBs,
obscured AGNs and rare transients. The continuous scan of the entire sky every 3 hours will establish a finely-sampled
long-term history of many X-ray sources, opening up new possibilities for variability studies.
KEYWORDS: Sensors, X-rays, CMOS sensors, Space operations, Staring arrays, X-ray detectors, Calibration, Digital signal processing, Electronics, Signal processing
JANUS is a NASA small explorer class mission which just completed phase A and was intended for a 2013 launch date.
The primary science goals of JANUS are to use high redshift (6<z<12) gamma ray bursts and quasars to explore the
formation history of the first stars in the early universe and to study contributions to reionization. The X-Ray Flash
Monitor (XRFM) and the Near-IR Telescope (NIRT) are the two primary instruments on JANUS. XRFM has been
designed to detect bright X-ray flashes (XRFs) and gamma ray bursts (GRBs) in the 1-20 keV energy band over a wide
field of view (4 steradians), thus facilitating the detection of z>6 XRFs/GRBs, which can be further studied by other
instruments. XRFM would use a coded mask aperture design with hybrid CMOS Si detectors. It would be sensitive to
XRFs/GRBs with flux in excess of approximately 240 mCrab. The spacecraft is designed to rapidly slew to source
positions following a GRB trigger from XRFM. XRFM instrument design parameters and science goals are presented in
this paper.
The primary instrument of the proposed EXIST mission is a coded mask high energy telescope (the HET),
that must have a wide field of view and extremely good sensitivity. In order to achieve the performance goals
it will be crucial to minimize systematic errors so that even for very long total integration times the imaging
performance is close to the statistical photon limit. There is also a requirement to be able to reconstruct images
on-board in near real time in order to detect and localize gamma-ray bursts, as is currently being done by the
BAT instrument on Swift. However for EXIST this must be done while the spacecraft is continuously scanning
the sky. The scanning provides all-sky coverage and is also a key part of the strategy to reduce systematic errors.
The on-board computational problem is made even more challenging for EXIST by the very large number of
detector pixels (more than 107, compared with 32768 for BAT). The EXIST HET Imaging Technical Working
Group has investigated and compared numerous alternative designs for the HET. The selected baseline concept
meets all of the scientific requirements, while being compatible with spacecraft and launch constraints and with
those imposed by the infra-red and soft X-ray telescopes that constitute the other key parts of the payload. The
approach adopted depends on a unique coded mask with two spatial scales. Coarse elements in the mask are
effective over the entire energy band of the instrument and are used to initially locate gamma-ray bursts. A finer
mask component provides the good angular resolution needed to refine the burst position and reduces the cosmic
X-ray background; it is optimized for operation at low energies and becomes transparent in the upper part of the
energy band where an open fraction of 50% is optimal. Monte Carlo simulations and analytic analysis techniques
have been used to demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed design and of the two-step burst localization
procedure.
How structures of various scales formed and evolved from the early Universe up to present time is a fundamental
question of astrophysics. EDGE will trace the cosmic history of the baryons from the early generations of massive
stars by Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) explosions, through the period of galaxy cluster formation, down to the very low
redshift Universe, when between a third and one half of the baryons are expected to reside in cosmic filaments undergoing
gravitational collapse by dark matter (the so-called warm hot intragalactic medium). In addition EDGE, with its
unprecedented capabilities, will provide key results in many important fields. These scientific goals are feasible with a
medium class mission using existing technology combined with innovative instrumental and observational capabilities
by: (a) observing with fast reaction Gamma-Ray Bursts with a high spectral resolution (R ~ 500). This enables the study
of their (star-forming) environment and the use of GRBs as back lights of large scale cosmological structures; (b)
observing and surveying extended sources (galaxy clusters, WHIM) with high sensitivity using two wide field of view
X-ray telescopes (one with a high angular resolution and the other with a high spectral resolution). The mission concept
includes four main instruments: a Wide-field Spectrometer with excellent energy resolution (3 eV at 0.6 keV), a Wide-
Field Imager with high angular resolution (HPD 15") constant over the full 1.4 degree field of view, and a Wide Field
Monitor with a FOV of 1/4 of the sky, which will trigger the fast repointing to the GRB. Extension of its energy response
up to 1 MeV will be achieved with a GRB detector with no imaging capability. This mission is proposed to ESA as part
of the Cosmic Vision call. We will briefly review the science drivers and describe in more detail the payload of this
mission.
We report our progress on the development of pixellated imaging CZT detector arrays for our first-generation balloon-borne
wide-field hard X-ray (20 - 600 keV) telescope, ProtoEXIST1. Our ProtoEXIST program is a pathfinder for the
High Energy Telescope (HET) on the Energetic X-ray Imaging Survey telescope (EXIST), a proposed implementation of
the Black Hole Finder Probe. ProtoEXIST1 consists of four independent coded-aperture telescopes with close-tiled (~0.4
mm gaps) CZT detectors that preserve their 2.5mm pixel pitch. Multiple shielding/field-of-view configurations are
planned to identify optimal geometry for the HET in EXIST. The primary technical challenge in ProtoEXIST is the
development of large area, close-tiled modules of imaging CZT detectors (1000 cm2 for ProtoEXIST1), with all readout
and control systems for the ASIC readout vertically stacked. We describe the overall telescope configuration of
ProtoEXIST1 and review the current development status of the CZT detectors, from individual detector crystal units
(DCUs) to a full detector module (DM). We have built the first units of each component for the detector plane and have
completed a few Rev2 DCUs (2x2 cm2), which are under a series of tests. Bare DCUs (pre-crystal bonding) show high,
uniform ASIC yield (~70%) and ~30% reduction in electronics noise compared to the Rev1 equivalent. A Rev1 DCU
already achieved ~1.2% FWHM at 662 keV, and preliminary analysis of the initial radiation tests on a Rev2 DCU shows
~ 4 keV FWHM at 60 keV (vs. 4.7 keV for Rev1). We therefore expect about ≤1% FWHM at 662 keV with the Rev2 detectors.
We describe the detector development for a balloon-borne wide-field hard X-ray (20-600 keV) telescope, ProtoEXIST.
ProtoEXIST is a pathfinder for both technology and science of the proposed implementation of the Black Hole Finder
Probe, Energetic X-ray Imaging Survey telescope (EXIST). The principal technology challenge is the development of
large area, close-tiled modules of imaging CZT detectors (1000 cm2 for ProtoEXIST1). We review the updates of the
detector design and package concept for ProtoEXIST1 and report the current development status of the CZT detectors,
using calibration results of our basic detector unit - 2 x 2 x 0.5 cm CZT crystals with 2.5 mm pixels (8 x 8 array). The
current prototype (Rev1) of our detector crystal unit (DCU) shows ~4.5 keV electronics noise (FWHM), and the
radiation measurements show the energy resolution (FWHM) of the units is 4.7 keV (7.9%) at 59.5 keV, 5.6 keV (4.6%)
at 122 keV, and 7.6 keV (2.1%) at 356 keV. The new (Rev2) DCU with revised design is expected to improve the
resolution by ~30%.
As technological and scientific path-finder towards future observatory missions, a balloon-born hard X-ray imaging observation experiment InFOCμS has been developed. The payload has flown four times since 2000. In its 2004 Fall flight campaign InFOCμS successfully achieved first scientific observations of multiple astronomical objects from galactic compacts to cluster of galaxies. Significant signal has been detected from bright galactic objects while analysis of extragalactic objects is underway. InFOCμS plans additional and upgraded telescope-detector system as early as 2006. High energy telescope for nuclear gamma-ray line observations is under planning.
InFOCμS is a new generation balloon-borne hard X-ray telescope with focusing optics and spectroscopy in a collaboration between NASA's GSFC and Nagoya University. We had a successful 22.5-hour flight from Fort Sumner, NM on September 16-17, 2004. The InFOCμS hard X-ray telescope consists of a depth-graded platinum-carbon multilayer mirror and a CdZnTe detector, which is a pixellated solid-state device capable of imaging spectroscopy. In this paper, we present the performance of the InFOCμS CdZnTe detector. The detector is configured with a 12 × 12 segmented array of detector pixels. The pixels are 2 mm square, and are placed on 2.1 mm centers. The averaged energy resolution is 4.4 keV at 60 keV and its standard deviation is 0.36 keV over 128 pixels. It has a 241Am tagged source to monitor the energy gain of each detector pixel during the flight. The gain was stable within a few percent during observations. The detector is also surrounded by a 3-cm thick CsI anti-coincidence shield to reduce background from particles and photons not incident along the mirror focal direction. Owing to the active shield, 97.3% of the background was rejected as vetoed events. The observed background rate is 2.9 × 10-4 cts sec-1 cm-2 keV-1 (20-50 keV). We achieved sensitivity as great as 5 × 10-6 cts sec-1 cm-2 keV-1 with 8-hour observations (in 20-50 keV and three sigma detection) in this flight. We also present our plan for the future InFOCμS flights as well as their sensitivity we would expect.
Hard X-ray focusing observation is important to reveal non-thermal
emission mechanism and origin in active galaxies and clusters of
galaxies. We have carried out the hard X-ray observation throughout
the ¥infocus program, which is an international balloon-borne
experiment in collaboration with NASA/GSFC and Nagoya University.
The telescope is conical approximation of Wolter-I optics with 8 m
focal length and 40 cm diameter. It consists of 255 nested thin (0.17
mm thickness) reflectors with incidence angles of 0.10° to
0.36°. Reflectors are coated with depth-graded platinum-carbon (Pt/C) multilayers, so-called supermirrors, with periodic length of 2.6 to 13 nm and bi-layer number of 28 to 79, depending on incidence angles. We are now continuously fabricating advanced next hard X-ray telescope for the second ¥infocus flight in 2004. Compared with the first telescope, the following improvements have been made on the second one. Supermirror reflectors have wider sensitivity in energy band of 20-60 keV adopting optimum supermirror design for balloon
observation, and smaller interfacial roughness owing to complete
replication technique. For upgrading of the image quality, we then
adopted stiffer reflector substrate, selected replication mandrel with
better shape, and the modified telescope housing with higher alignment
accuracy for reflectors. The performance of the new hard X-ray
telescope was measured in X-ray beamline facility in ISAS/JAXA and
synchrotron radiation facility SPring-8. The effective area and image
quality are obtained to be 45 cm2 at 30 keV and 23 cm2 at 40 keV, and 2.5 arcmin in half power diameter, respectively. In this paper we report our development of the upgraded hard X-ray telescope for the second balloon flight experiment.
The Swift Gamma Ray Burst Explorer, chosen in October 1999 as NASA's next MIDEX mission, is now scheduled for launch in October 2004. SWIFT carries three complementary instruments. The Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) identifies gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and determines their location on the sky to within a few arc-minutes. Rapid slew by the fast-acting SWIFT spacecraft points the two narrow field instruments, an X-ray Telescope (XRT) and an Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT), to within the BAT error circle within 70 seconds of a BAT detection. The XRT can determine burst locations to within 5 arc-seconds and measure X-ray spectra and photon flux, whilst the UVOT has a sensitivity down to 24th magnitude and sub arc-second positional accuracy in the optical/uv band. The three instruments combine to make a powerful multi-wavelength observatory with the capability for rapid determination of GRB positions to arc-second accuracy within a minute or so of their discovery, and the ability to measure light-curves and red-shifts of the bursts and after-glows. The paper summarises the mission's readiness for October's launch and operations.
KEYWORDS: Sensors, Hard x-rays, Calibration, Gamma radiation, Monte Carlo methods, Error analysis, X-ray telescopes, Coded apertures, Space telescopes, X-rays
In addition to providing the initial gamma-ray burst trigger and location, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) will also perform an all-sky hard x-ray survey based on serendipitous pointings resulting from the study of gamma-ray bursts. BAT was designed with a very wide field-of-view (FOV) so that it can observe roughly 1/7 of the sky at any time. Since gamma-ray bursts are uniformly distributed over the sky, the final BAT survey coverage is expected to be nearly uniform. BAT's large effective area and long sky exposures will produce a 15 - 150 keV survey with up to 30 times better sensitivity than any previous hard x-ray survey (e.g. HEAO A4). Since the sensitivity of deep exposures in this energy range is systematics limited, the ultimate survey sensitivity depends on the relative sizes of the statistical and systematic errors in the data. Many careful calibration experiments were performed at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center to better understand the BAT instrument's response to 15-150 keV gamma-rays incident from any direction within the FOV. Using radioactive sources of gamma-rays with known locations and energies, the Swift team can identify potential systematic errors in the telescope's performance and estimate the actual Swift hard x-ray survey sensitivity in flight. These calibration results will be discussed and a preliminary parameterization of the BAT instrument response will be presented. While the details of the individual BAT CZT detector response will be presented elsewhere in these proceedings, this talk will focus on the translation of the calibration experimental data into overall hard x-ray survey sensitivity.
KEYWORDS: Sensors, Space operations, Image processing, Space telescopes, Hard x-rays, Digital signal processing, Telescopes, Detection and tracking algorithms, Detector arrays, Electronics
The Burst Alert telescope (BAT) is one of 3 instruments on the Swift MIDEX spacecraft to study gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). The BAT instrument is the instrument that first detects the GRB and localizes the burst direction to an accuracy of 1-4 arcmin within 20 sec after the start of the event. These locations cause the spacecraft to autonomously slew to point the two narrow-FOV instruments at the burst location within 20-70 sec to make follow-up x-ray and optical observations. BAT is a wide-FOV coded-aperture instrument with a CdZnTe detector plane. The detector plane is composed of 32,768 pieces of CdZnTe (4x4x2mm), and the coded-aperture mask is composed of ~52,000 pieces of lead (5x5x1mm) with a 1-m separation between mask and detector plane. The BAT operates over the 15-150 keV energy range with ~6 keV resolution, a sensitivity of 0.2 ph/cm2-sec, and a 1.4 sr (half-coded) FOV. We expect to detect >100 GRBs/yr for a 2-year mission. The BAT also performs an all-sky hard x-ray survey with a sensitivity of ~2 mCrab (systematic limit) and as a hard x-ray transient monitor.
The properties of 32k CdZnTe detectors have been studied in the
pre-flight calibration of Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) on-board the
Swift Gamma-ray Burst Explorer (scheduled for launch in January 2004).
After corrections of the linearity and the gain, the energy resolution
of summed spectrum is 7.0 keV (FWHM) at 122~keV. In order to construct
response matrices for the BAT instrument, we extracted
mobility-lifetime (μτ) products for electrons and holes in the
CdZnTe. Based on a new method applied to 57Co spectra taken at different bias voltages, μτ for electrons ranges from
5.0x10-4 to 1.0x10-2cm2V-1, while μτ for holes ranges from 1.0x10-5 to
1.7x10-4cm2V-1. We show that the distortion of the spectrum and the peak efficiency of the BAT instrument are well reproduced by the μτ database constructed in the calibration.
The development of hard X-ray focusing optics is widely recognized as
one of key technologies for future X-ray observatory missions such as
NeXT(Japan), Constellation-X(US) and possibly XEUS(Europe). We have developed hard X-ray telescope employing depth-graded multilayers, so-called supermirrors. Its benefit is to reflect hard X-rays by Bragg reflection at incidence angles larger than the critical angle of total external reflection. We are now continuously fabricating platinum-carbon(Pt/C) supermirror reflectors for hard X-ray observations. In this paper we focus on our development of the
hard X-ray telescope for the first balloon flight observation
(InFOCuS) and its results. InFOCuS is an international balloon-borne hard X-ray observation experiment initiated by NASA/GSFC. InFOCuS hard X-ray telescope have been jointly developed by Nagoya University and GSFC. The telescope is conical approximation of Wolter-I optics with 8m focal length and 40cm diameter. It consists of 255 nested ultra-thin reflector pairs with incidence angles of 0.10 to 0.36deg. Reflectors are coated with Pt/C supermirrors with periodic length of 2.9 to 10nm and bi-layer number of 25 to 60, depending on incidence angles. The effective area and imaging quality are expected as 100 cm2 at 30 keV and 2 arcmin in half power diameter, respectively. The InFOCuS experiment was launched on July 5, 2001, from National Scientific Balloon Facility in Texas, USA. We successfully observed Cyg X-1, chosen for a calibration target, in 20-40keV energy band. We are planning to carry out next flight for scientific observations as soon as additional telescopes, detectors, and upgraded gondola system are implemented.
The CZT detector on the Infocus hard X-ray telescope is a pixellated
solid-state device capable of imaging spectroscopy by measuring the
position and energy of each incoming photon. The detector sits at the
focal point of an 8m focal length multilayered grazing incidence
X-ray mirror which has significant effective area between 20-40 keV.
The detector has an energy resolution of 4.0 keV at 32 keV, and the
Infocus telescope has an angular resolution of 2.2 arcminute and a
field of view of about 10 arcminutes. Infocus flew on a balloon
mission in July 2001 and observed Cygnus X-1. We present results from
laboratory testing of the detector to measure the uniformity of
response across the detector, to determine the spectral resolution,
and to perform a simple noise decomposition. We also present a hard
X-ray spectrum and image of Cygnus X-1, and measurements of the hard
X-ray CZT background obtained with the SWIN detector on Infocus.
We report detector characteristics and background measurements from two prototype imaging CdZnTe (CZT) detectors flown on a scientific balloon payload in May 2001. The detectors are both platinum-contact 10 mm × 10 mm × 5 mm CZT crystals, each with a 4 × 4 array of pixels tiling the anode. One is made from IMARAD horizontal Bridgman CZT, the other from eV Products high-pressure Bridgman CZT. Both detectors were mounted side-by-side in a flip-chip configuration and read out by a 32-channel IDE VA/TA ASIC preamp/shaper. We enclosed the detectors in the same 40o field-of-view collimator used in our previously-reported September 2000 flight. I-V curves for the detectors are diode-like, and we find that the platinum contacts adhere significantly better to the CZT surfaces than gold to previosu detectors. The detectors and instrumentation performed well in a 20-hour balloon flight on 23/24 May 2001. Although we discovered a significant instrumental background component in flight, it was possible to measure and subtract this component from the spectra. The resulting IMARAD detector background spectrum reaches ~5×10-3 counts cm-2s-1keV-1 at 100 keV and has a power-law index of ~2 at hgih energies. The eV Products detector has a similar spectrum, although there is more uncertainty in the enregy scale because of calibration complications.
KEYWORDS: Sensors, Space operations, Image processing, Space telescopes, Hard x-rays, Detection and tracking algorithms, X-ray telescopes, Electronics, Calibration, Digital signal processing
The Burst Alert telescope (BAT) is one of 3 instruments on the Swift MIDEX spacecraft to study gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). The BAT instrument is the instrument that first detects the GRB and localizes the burst direction to an accuracy of 1 - 4 arcmin within 10 sec after the start of the event. These locations cause the spacecraft to autonomously slew to point the two narrow-FOV instruments at the burst location within 20 - 70 sec to make follow-up x-ray and optical observations. BAT is a wide-FOV coded-aperture instrument with a CdZnTe detector plane. The detector plane is composed of 32,768 pieces of CdZnTe (4 X 4 X 2 mm), and the coded-aperture mask is composed of approximately 50,000 pieces of lead (5 X 5 X 1 mm) with a 1-m separation between mask and detector plane. The BAT operates over the 10 - 150 keV energy range with approximately 7 keV resolution, a sensitivity of 0.2 ph/cm2-sec, and a 1.4 sr (half-coded) FOV. We expect to detect approximately 300 GRBs/yr for a 3-year mission. The BAT also performs an all-sky hard x-ray survey with a sensitivity of approximately 1 mCrab (systematic limit) and as a hard x- ray transient monitor.
The on-board flight software for the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft was modified to produce continuous 1-sec sampled rate information from the shield of the x-ray and gamma ray spectrometer (XGRS) instrument. Since the XGRS shield can also detect gamma ray bursts (GRB), this rate information can be used in combination with the GRB detections by the Ulysses and near-Earth GRB instruments as part of the interplanetary network (IPN) to triangulate the source direction of GRBs. It is the long baseline of NEAR combined with the Ulysses baseline that makes small error box locations possible. We have developed an automated system to analyze the periodic telemetry dumps from the NEAR spacecraft. It extracts this new data type, scans the ate information for increases which are plausibly of GRB origin, and combines these with the GRB detections from the others spacecraft. Because the processing is automated, the time delay to produce the triangulated positions is kept to a minimum, up to 48 hours. This automated processing and distribution of the GRB locations is done within the GRB Coordinates Network system. About 60 locations per year with errors ranging from a few to tens of arcminutes are expected. These rapid precise localizations may provide about 10 times the rate currently provided by the WFC and NFI instruments on BeppoSAX.
One of the critical challenges for large area cadmium zinc telluride (CdZnTe) detector arrays is obtaining material capable of uniform imaging and spectroscopic response. Two complementary nondestructive techniques for characterizing bulk CdZnTe have been developed to identify material with a uniform response. The first technique, IR transmission imaging, allows for rapid visualization of bulk defects. The second technique, x-ray spectral mapping, provides a map of the material spectroscopic response when it is configured as a planar detector. The two techniques have been used to develop a correlation between bulk defect type and detector performance. The correlation allows for the use of IR imaging to rapidly develop wafer mining maps. The mining of material free of detrimental defects has the potential to dramatically increase the yield and quality of large area CdZnTe detector arrays.
LOTIS is a rapidly slewing wide-field-of-viewtelescope which was designed and constructed to search for simultaneous gamma- ray burst (GRB) optical counterparts. This experiment requires a rapidly slewing (less than 10 sec), wide-field-of-view (greater than 15 degrees celsius), automatic and dedicated telescope. LOTIS utilizes commercial tele-photo lenses and custom 2048 X 2048 CCD cameras to view a 17.6 X 17.6 degree field of view. It can point to any part of the sky within 5 sec and is fully automated. It is connected via Internet socket to the GRB coordinate distribution network which analyzes telemetry from the satellite and delivers GRB coordinate information in real-time. LOTIS started routine operation in Oct. 1996. In the idle time between GRB triggers, LOTIS systematically surveys the entire available sky every night for new optical transients. This paper will describe the system design and performance.
The burst and all sky imaging survey (BASIS) is a proposed mission to provide plus or minus 3 arc-second locations of an estimated 90 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) per year. The BASIS coded aperture imaging system requires a segmented detector plane able to detect the position of photon absorption to less than 100 microns. To develop prototype detector arrays with such fine position resolution we have fabricated many 15 mm by 15 mm by 2 mm 100 micron pitch CdZnTe strip detectors. A 2 by 2 prototype 100 micron CdZnTe strip detector array has been fabricated and has been used to test the capabilities of the BASIS imaging system. Preliminary shadowgrams of a 1 mm wide gap between two tungsten straight edges indicate that our position resolution is on the order of 69 micrometers. Both the array and imaging tests are described. A 6 by 6 element CdZnTe detector array is also being fabricated at GSFC. The assembly of this flight prototype array is discussed as well as applications for BASIS.
The burst and all-sky imaging survey (BASIS) project is a proposed small explorer (SMEX) mission to image the gamma-ray sky in the 10 - 150 keV energy range with high angular and energy resolution. It will be able to determine the locations of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) to within a few arcseconds, sending accurate positions to ground-based telescopes for simultaneous and follow-up observations within seconds of the beginning of the GRB. It will also produce all-sky maps with 30 arcsecond resolution and 2 milliCrab sensitivity. The instrument uses a two-scale coded aperture mask to modulate gamma-rays falling on a cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) detector plane consisting of both 100 micrometer pitch strip detectors and 4 mm square spectroscopy detectors. The spatial pattern of gamma-rays will be deconvolved with the mask pattern to produce an image. This paper presents results from a prototype of this system, using a mask and strip detectors to produce an image of a radioactive source. The prototype functions as expected, producing images which, when scaled to the dimensions of the proposed instrument, achieve the desired resolution.
A CdZnTe strip detector array with capabilities for arc second imaging and spectroscopy has been built as a prototype for a space flight gamma ray burst instrument. Two dimensional orthogonal strip detectors with 100 micrometer pitch have been fabricated and tested for a large area array (approximately 60 cm2 with 36 detectors). Details for the fabrication and evaluation of the detectors are presented. Critical issues to be addressed include fabricating metal contacts with low leakage current and with excellent wire bonding yield, achieving high yield for good strips, and surface cleaning and passivation.
We are studying a gamma-ray burst mission concept called burst arcsecond imaging and spectroscopy (BASIS) as part of NASA's new mission concepts for astrophysics program. The scientific objectives are to accurately locate bursts, determine their distance scale, and measure the physical characteristics of the emission region. Arcsecond burst positions (angular resolution approximately 30 arcsec, source positions approximately 3 arcsec) will be obtained for approximately 100 bursts per year using the 10 - 100 keV emission. This will allow the first deep, unconfused counterpart searches at other wavelengths. The key technological breakthrough that makes such measurements possible is the development of CdZnTe room-temperature semiconductor detectors with fine (approximately 100 micron) spatial resolution. Fine spectroscopy will be obtained between 0.2 and 150 keV. The 0.2 keV threshold will allow the first measurements of absorption in our galaxy and possible host galaxies, constraining the distance scale and host environment.
CdZnTe strip detectors have been fabricated and tested to show the ability for arc second imaging and spectroscopy. Two dimensional CdZnTe strip detectors with 100 micron pitch have been fabricated and wire bonded to readout electronics to demonstrate the ability to localize 22 to 122 keV photons to less than 100 microns. Good spectral resolution has also been achieved. The uniformity and relative efficiency of the strip detector are discussed. Radiation damage effects by intermediate energy neutrons and low energy protons on the surface and bulk performance of CdZnTe devices have been investigated and are presented. Activation and annealing of radiation effects have been seen and are discussed.
Because of its high atomic number and convenient room temperature operation, CdZnTe has great potential for use in both balloon and space borne hard x-ray (5 - 200 keV) astrophysics experiments. Here we present preliminary results from the first CdZnTe background measurements made by a balloon instrument. Measurements of the CdZnTe internal background are essential to determine which physical processes make the most important background contributions and are critical in the design of future scientific instruments. The PoRTIA CdZnTe balloon instrument was flown three times in three different shielding configurations. PoRTIA was passively shielded during its first flight from Palestine, Texas and actively shielded as a piggyback instrument on the GRIS balloon experiment during flights 2 and 3 from Alice Springs, Australia. PoRTIA flew twice during the Fall 1995 Alice Springs, Australia campaign using the thick GRIS NaI anticoincidence shield. A significant CdZnTe background reduction was achieved during the third flight with PoRTIA placed completely inside the GRIS shield and blocking crystal, and thus completely surrounded by 15 cm of NaI. These background results are presented and contributions from different background processes are discussed.
We exposed a CdZnTe detector to MeV neutrons from a 252Cf source and found no performance degradation for fluences below 1010 neutrons cm-2. Detector resolution did show significant degradation at higher neutron fluences. There is evidence of room temperature annealing of the radiation effects over time. Activation lines were observed and the responsible isotopes were identified by the energy and half-life of the lines. These radiation damage studies allow evaluation of the robustness of CdZnTe detectors in high neutron and radiation environments.
A CdZnTe strip detector array with capabilities for arc second imaging and spectroscopy is being developed for a space flight gamma-ray burst instrument. Two dimensional strip detectors with 100 micrometers pitch have been fabricated and wire bonded to readout electronics to demonstrate the ability to localize 22 to 122 keV photons to less than 100 micrometers. In addition, good spectral resolution has been achieved. The uniformity of response and relative efficiency of the strip detector will be discussed. Results form electrical characterization which include strip leakage current and strip capacitance will be presented.
We have proposed a gamma-ray burst mission concept called burst arcsecond imaging and spectroscopy (BASIS) in response to NASA's announcement for new mission concept studies. The scientific objectives are to accurately locate bursts, determine their distance scale, and measure the physical characteristics of the emission region. Arcsecond burst positions (angular resolution approximately 30 arcsec, source positions approximately 3 arcsec for greater than 10-6 erg cm-2 bursts) are obtained for about 100 bursts per year using the 10 - 200 keV emission. This allows the first deep, unconfused counterpart searches at other wavelengths. The key technological breakthrough that makes such measurements possible is the development of CdZnTe room-temperature semiconductor detectors with fine (approximately 100 micron) spatial resolution. Fine spectroscopy is obtained between 0.2 keV and 200 keV. The 0.2 keV threshold allows the first measurements of absorption in our galaxy and possible host galaxies, constraining the distance scale and host environment. The mission concept and its scientific objectives are described.
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