Test campaign of the minicalorimeter for the AGILE Satellite
Abstract
The AGILE (Astro-rivelatore Gamma a Immagini LEggero) satellite is an accepted mission by the ASI (Italian Space Agency) for Small Scientific Payload as a powerful and cost- effective space mission dedicated to gamma-ray (30 MeV to 50 GeV) astrophysics during the years 2002 - 2005. The instrument is designed to achieve an optimal angular resolution (about 5' - 20' for intense sources) and a large field-of-view (better than 2 sr.). The AGILE scientific payload consists of a silicon-tungsten tracker, a Cesium Iodide mini-calorimeter, an anti-coincidence system made of plastic scintillators, fast read-out electronics and processing units. The mini- calorimeter detector is made of 2 orthogonal planes each one comprising 16 bars of CsI(Tl) each having a cross section of 1.5 X 2.3 cm and a length of 40 cm. The signal from each bar is collected by photo-diodes placed at both ends with the aim of: (1) obtaining information on the energy deposited in the bars by particles produced in the tracker and therefore contributing to the determination of the total energy. (2) detecting Gamma Ray Bursts and other impulsive events in the energy range 0.25 - 100 MeV. Two bars have been tested in the ITeSRE laboratory using 241Am and 22Na radioactive sources and at the CERN (European Center for Nuclear Radiation, Geneva) facilities using a beam of charged particles at the energy of 2 GeV/c. In this paper, after a short description of the experimental set-up, the performance of the two bars in terms of equivalent charge output, light attenuation, position and energy reconstruction as a function of the distance from the bars' center are reported. Moreover the results of a first approach to a Monte Carlo simulation of the bars are compared with experimental data.
- Publication:
-
X-Ray and Gamma-Ray Instrumentation for Astronomy XI
- Pub Date:
- December 2000
- DOI:
- 10.1117/12.409146
- Bibcode:
- 2000SPIE.4140..486R