Initial performance of the EXITE2 imaging phoswich detector/telescope for hard X-ray astronomy

Author

Lum, K.S.K. ; Manandhar, R.P. ; Eikenberry, S.S. ; Krockenberger, M. ; Grindlay, J.E.

Author_Institution

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophys., Cambridge, MA, USA

Volume

41

Issue

4

fYear

1994

fDate

8/1/1994 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1354

Lastpage

1363

Abstract

The authors have developed, tested, and flown a large-area imaging phoswich detector/telescope for hard X-ray astronomy. This second-generation Energetic X-ray Imaging Telescope Experiment (EXITE) is designed to detect and image cosmic X-ray sources in the 20-600 keV energy range from a high-altitude balloon. Imaging is accomplished via the coded-aperture technique. Laboratory tests have shown that the detector achieves 14% (FWHM) energy resolution and ~10 mm (FWHM) spatial resolution at 60 keV, and that the pulse-shape discrimination circuit effectively distinguishes between NaI(Tl) and CsI(Na) events from ~40-400 keV. The first flight of the instrument was from Palestine, Texas, on 13-14 June 1993. The authors present details of the laboratory performance of the system and some flight results

Keywords

X-ray astronomy; X-ray detection and measurement; astronomical instruments; astronomical telescopes; cosmic ray apparatus; position sensitive particle detectors; scintillation counters; 10 mm; 20 to 600 keV; CsI(Na); CsI:Na; EXITE2; NaI(Tl); NaI:Tl; coded-aperture technique; cosmic X-ray sources; energy resolution; hard X-ray astronomy; phoswich detector telescope; pulse-shape discrimination circuit; spatial resolution; Astronomy; Circuit testing; High-resolution imaging; Laboratories; Optical design; Optical imaging; Telescopes; X-ray detection; X-ray detectors; X-ray imaging;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9499

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/23.322913

Filename

322913