Hard x-ray imager (HXI) for the ASTRO-H Mission

Motohide Kokubun , Kazuhiro Nakazawa , Teruaki Enoto , Yasushi Fukazawa , Kirk Gilmore , Jun Kataoka , Madoka Kawaharada , Philippe Laurent (1) , F. Lebrun (1) , O. Limousin (2) , Kazuo Makishima , Tsunefumi Mizuno , Kunishiro Mori , Takeshi Nakamori , Masanori Ohno , Masayuki Ohta , Goro Sato , Hiroyasu Tajima , Hiromitsu Takahashi , Tadayuki Takahashi , Takaaki Tanaka , Yukikatsu Terada , Hideki Uchiyama , Yasunobu Uchiyama , Shin Watanabe , Yoichi Yatsu , Kazutaka Yamaoka

1 APC - AHE - APC - Astrophysique des Hautes Energies
2 IRFU - Institut de Recherches sur les lois Fondamentales de l'Univers

The Hard X-ray Imager (HXI) is one of four detectors on board the ASTRO-H mission (6th Japanese X-ray satellite), which is scheduled to be launched in 2014. Using the hybrid structure composed of double-sided silicon strip detectors and a cadmium telluride double-sided strip detector, the instrument fully covers the energy range of photons collected with the hard X-ray telescope up to 80 keV with a high quantum efficiency. High spatial resolution of 250 μm and an energy resolution of 1-2 keV (FWHM) are both achieved with low noise front-end ASICs. In addition, the thick BGO active shields surrounding the main detector package is a heritage of the successful performance of the Hard X-ray Detector on board the Suzaku satellite. This feature enables the instrument to achieve an extremely high background reduction caused by cosmic-ray particles, cosmic X-ray background, and in-orbit radiation activation. In this paper, we present the detector concept, design, latest results of the detector development, and the current status of the hardware.

Domaines: Phénomènes cosmiques de haute energie [astro-ph.HE]; Phénomènes cosmiques de haute energie [astro-ph.HE]

Motohide Kokubun, Kazuhiro Nakazawa, Teruaki Enoto, Yasushi Fukazawa, Kirk Gilmore, et al.. Hard x-ray imager (HXI) for the ASTRO-H Mission. SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation 2010, Jun 2010, San Diego (California), United States. pp.773215, ⟨10.1117/12.857933⟩. ⟨hal-00715256⟩