Papers

Peer-reviewed
Apr 1, 2018

Ground calibration of the Astro-H (Hitomi) soft x-ray spectrometer

Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems
  • Megan E. Eckart
  • Joseph S. Adams
  • Kevin R. Boyce
  • Gregory V. Brown
  • Meng P. Chiao
  • Ryuichi Fujimoto
  • Daniel Haas
  • Jan-Willem Den Herder
  • Akio Hoshino
  • Yoshitaka Ishisaki
  • Caroline A. Kilbourne
  • Shunji Kitamoto
  • Maurice A. Leutenegger
  • Dan McCammon
  • Kazuhisa Mitsuda
  • F. Scott Porter
  • Kosuke Sato
  • Makoto Sawada
  • Hiromi Seta
  • Gary A. Sneiderman
  • Andrew E. Szymkowiak
  • Yoh Takei
  • Makoto S. Tashiro
  • Masahiro Tsujimoto
  • Cor P. De Vries
  • Tomomi Watanabe
  • Shinya Yamada
  • Noriko Y. Yamasaki
  • Display all

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
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JATIS.4.2.021406
URL
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2018JATIS...4b1406E
ID information
  • DOI : 10.1117/1.JATIS.4.2.021406
  • ISSN : 2329-4221
  • ISSN : 2329-4124
  • SCOPUS ID : 85044623117

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