Apr 1, 2018
Ground calibration of the Astro-H (Hitomi) soft x-ray spectrometer
Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems
- Volume
- 4
- Number
- 2
- First page
- 021406
- Last page
- Language
- English
- Publishing type
- Research paper (scientific journal)
- DOI
- 10.1117/1.JATIS.4.2.021406
- Publisher
- SPIE
The Astro-H (Hitomi) Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS) was a pioneering imaging x-ray spectrometer with 5 eV energy resolution at 6 keV. The instrument used a microcalorimeter array at the focus of a high-Throughput soft x-ray telescope to enable high-resolution nondispersive spectroscopy in the soft x-ray waveband (0.3 to 12 keV). We present the suite of ground calibration measurements acquired from 2012 to 2015, including characterization of the detector system, anti-coincidence detector, optical blocking filters, and filter-wheel filters. The calibration of the 36-pixel silicon thermistor microcalorimeter array includes parameterizations of the energy gain scale and line-spread function for each event grade over a range of instrument operating conditions, as well as quantum efficiency measurements. The x-ray transmission of the set of five Al/polyimide thin-film optical blocking filters mounted inside the SXS dewar has been modeled based on measurements at synchrotron beamlines, including with high spectral resolution at the C, N, O, and Al K-edges. In addition, we present the x-ray transmission of the dewar gate valve and of the filters mounted on the SXS filter wheel (external to the dewar), including beryllium, polyimide, and neutral density filters.
- Link information
- ID information
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- DOI : 10.1117/1.JATIS.4.2.021406
- ISSN : 2329-4221
- ISSN : 2329-4124
- SCOPUS ID : 85044623117