Design and Tests of the Hard X-ray Polarimeter X-Calibur

Authors

  • M. Beilicke Department of Physics and McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
  • R. Cowsik Department of Physics and McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
  • P. Dowkontt Department of Physics and McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
  • Q. Guo Department of Physics and McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
  • F. Kislat Department of Physics and McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
  • S. Barthelmy Goddard Space Flight Center, MD
  • T. Okajima Goddard Space Flight Center, MD
  • J. W. Mitchell Goddard Space Flight Center, MD
  • J. Schnittman Goddard Space Flight Center, MD
  • B. Zeiger Goddard Space Flight Center, MD
  • G. De Geronimo Brookhaven National Lab, NY
  • M. G. Baring Rice University, TX
  • A. Bodaghee UC Berkeley, CA
  • T. Miyazawa Nagoya University
  • K. D. Finkelstein Cornell University, NY
  • H. Krawczynski Department of Physics and McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, MO

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14311/APP.2014.01.0293

Abstract

X-ray polarimetry promises to give qualitatively new information bout high-energy astrophysical sources, such as binary black hole  systems, micro-quasars, active galactic nuclei, and gamma-ray bursts. We designed, built and tested ahard X-ray polarimeter, X-Calibur, to be used in the focal plane of the InFOCuS 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.

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Published

2014-12-05

How to Cite

Beilicke, M., Cowsik, R., Dowkontt, P., Guo, Q., Kislat, F., Barthelmy, S., Okajima, T., Mitchell, J. W., Schnittman, J., Zeiger, B., De Geronimo, G., Baring, M. G., Bodaghee, A., Miyazawa, T., Finkelstein, K. D., & Krawczynski, H. (2014). Design and Tests of the Hard X-ray Polarimeter X-Calibur. Acta Polytechnica CTU Proceedings, 1(1), 293–297. https://doi.org/10.14311/APP.2014.01.0293

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 1 (2014): FRASCATI WORKSHOP 2013

Section

Articles