Wide Field Imager for Athena
Abstract
The Wide Field Imager focal plane instrument on ATHENA will combine unprecedented survey power through its large field of view of 40 arcmin with a high count-rate capability (> 1 Crab). The energy resolution of the silicon sensor is state-of-the-art in the energy band of interest from 0.1 keV to 15 keV. At energy of 6 keV for example, the full width at half maximum of the line shall be not worse than 150 eV until the end of the mission. The performance is accomplished by a set of DEPFET active pixel sensor matrices with a pixel size well suited to the angular resolution of 5 arc sec (on-axis) of the mirror system.Each DEPFET pixel is a combined detector-amplifier structure with a MOSFET integrated onto a fully depleted 450 micron thick silicon bulk. Two different types of DEPFET sensors are planned for the WFI instrument: A set of large-area sensors to cover the physical size of 14 cm x 14 cm in the focal plane and a single gateable DEPFET sensor matrix optimized for the high count rate capability of the instrument. An overview will be given about the presently developed instrument concept and design, the status of the technology development, and the expected performance. An outline of the project organization, the model philosophy as well as the schedule will complete the presentation about the Wide Field Imager for Athena.
- Publication:
-
Exploring the Hot and Energetic Universe: The first scientific conference dedicated to the Athena X-ray observatory
- Pub Date:
- September 2015
- Bibcode:
- 2015eheu.conf....5M