The Hard X-ray Polarimeter X-Calibur - Design and Tests

M. Beilicke; W. R. Binns; J. Buckley; R. Cowsik; P. Dowkontt; A. Garson; Q. Guo; M. H. Israel; K. Lee; H. Krawczynski; M. G. Baring; S. Barthelmy; T. Okajima; J. Schnittman; J. Tueller; Y. Haba; H. Kunieda; H. Matsumoto; T. Miyazawa; K. Tamura

arXiv · 1109.6850

The Hard X-ray Polarimeter X-Calibur - Design and Tests

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Abstract

X-ray polarimetry promises to give 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 InFOCuS 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.

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M. Beilicke, W. R. Binns, J. Buckley, R. Cowsik, P. Dowkontt, A. Garson, Q. Guo, M. H. Israel, K. Lee, H. Krawczynski, M. G. Baring, S. Barthelmy, T. Okajima, J. Schnittman, J. Tueller, Y. Haba, H. Kunieda, H. Matsumoto, T. Miyazawa, K. Tamura. 2011-09-30. The Hard X-ray Polarimeter X-Calibur - Design and Tests. https://arxiv.org/abs/1109.6850

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