Design and tests of the hard x-ray polarimeter X-Calibur
Abstract
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.
- Publication:
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Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) Conference Series
- Pub Date:
- September 2011
- DOI:
- 10.1117/12.893713
- Bibcode:
- 2011SPIE.8145E..06B