This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 7435, including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, and the Conference Committee listing.

A special type of CCD, the so-called PNCCD, was originally developed for the focal plane camera of the XMMNewton space telescope. After the satellite launch in 1999, the MPI Halbleiterlabor continued the detector development for various ground-based applications. Finally, a new X-ray PNCCD was designed again for a space telescope named eROSITA. The space telescope will be equipped with an array of seven parallel oriented X-ray mirror systems of Wolter-I type and seven cameras, placed in their foci. This instrumentation will permit the exploration of the X-ray universe in the energy band from 0.3 keV up to 10 keV with a time resolution of 50 ms for a full image comprising 384 x 384 pixels. eROSITA will be accommodated on the new Russian Spectrum-RG satellite. The mission was already approved by the responsible German and Russian space agencies. The detector development is focussed to fulfil the scientific specifications for detector performance under the constraints of all the mechanical, power, thermal and radiation hardness issues for space instrumentation. This considers also the recent change of the satellite's orbit. The Lagrange point L2 was decided as new destination of the satellite instead of a low-Earth orbit (LEO). We present a detailed description of the detector system and the current development status. The most recent test results are reported here. Essential steps for completion of the seven focal plane detectors until satellite launch in 2012 will be itemized.

The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR), scheduled for launch in 2011, is a NASA Small Explorer mission that will improve the current sensitivity for detection of faint astrophysical sources in the 6-80 keV band by two orders of magnitude. NuSTAR achieves high sensitivity by utilizing a hard X-ray focusing system. We have developed Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CdZnTe) pixel detectors optimized for good energy for the NuSTAR focal plane. Each of NuSTAR's two focal planes is comprised of hybrid detectors that consist of a CdZnTe pixel sensor with the anode contacts directly attached to corresponding readout circuits integrated on a custom low-noise VLSI chip. Each hybrid is 20.5 x 20.5 x 2.0 mm in size with the anode divided into 32 x 32 array of pixels at 0.6048 mm. In this paper we describe the hybrid sensor architecture, and present preliminary results from the characterization of detectors fabricated for the NuSTAR focal plane Engineering Test Unit (ETU). We achieve excellent electronic readout noise with an average of 250 eV FWHM, and energy resolution between 0.9 and 1.6 keV FWHM at 86.5 keV, depending on position in the sensor and improving at lower energies. In order to achieve the best spectral resolution we need to make pixeldependent corrections for events with charge split among multiple pixels, and in addition we make spectral corrections based on depth of the gamma-ray interaction.

We report on the performance of an analog application-specified integrated circuit (ASIC) developed for the front-end electronics of the X-ray CCD camera system (SXI: Soft X-ray Imager) onboard the ASTRO-H satellite. The ASIC consists of four identical channels and they simultaneously process the CCD signals at the pixel rate of 68kHz. Delta-Sigma modulator is adopted to achieve effective noise shaping and obtain a high resolution decimal values with relatively simple circuits. We will implement 16 ASIC chips in total in the focal plane assembly. The results of the unit test shows that it works properly with moderately low input noise of <30μV at the pixel rate of 80kHz. Power consumption is sufficiently low of 150mW. Dynamic range of input signals is +-20mV that covers effective energy range of the CCD chips of SXI (0.2-20keV). The integrated non-linearity of 0.2% satisfies the same performance as the conventional CCD detectors in orbit. The radiation tolerance against total ionizing dose (TID) effect and single event latch-up (SEL) has also been investigated. The irradiation test using 60Co gamma-rays and proton beam showed that the ASIC has sufficient tolerance against TID up to 200 and 167krad respectively, which thoroughly exceeds the expected operating duration in the planned low-inclination low-earth orbit. The irradiation of the Fe ion beam also showed no latch-up nor malfunctions up to the fluence of 4.7x10^7ions. The threshold against SEL is larger than 1.68MeVcm^2/mg, which is sufficiently high enough that SEL events should not be a major cause of instrument downtime.

The large collecting area of the X-ray optics on the International X-ray Observatory (IXO), their good angular resolution, the wide bandwidth of X-ray energies and the high radiation tolerance required for the X-ray detectors in the focal plane have stimulated a new development of devices which unify all those science driven specifications in one single detector. The concept of a monolithic, back-illuminated silicon active pixel sensor (APS) based on the DEPFET structure is proposed for the IXO mission, being a fully depleted, back-illuminated 450 μm thick detector with a physical size of about 10 × 10 cm² corresponding to the 18 arcmin field of view. The backside will be covered with an integrated optical light and UV-filter. Corresponding to the 5 arcsec angular resolution of the X-ray optics, 100 x 100 cm² large pixels in a format of approximately 1024 x 1024 are envisaged, matching the point spread function of approximately 500 μm HEW of the optics. The energy range from 100 eV to 15 keV is achieved by an ultra thin radiation entrance window for the low energies and 450 μm depleted silicon thickness for higher energies. The fast readout of 1.000 full frames per second is realized by a dedicated analog CMOS front end amplifier IC. The detector device is intrinsically radiation hard. The leakage current from the bulk damage is controlled through the operation temperature around -60 °C and by the high readout speed. Results of various prototype measurements will be shown.

JANUS is a NASA small explorer class mission which just completed phase A and was intended for a 2013 launch date. The primary science goals of JANUS are to use high redshift (6<z<12) gamma ray bursts and quasars to explore the formation history of the first stars in the early universe and to study contributions to reionization. The X-Ray Flash Monitor (XRFM) and the Near-IR Telescope (NIRT) are the two primary instruments on JANUS. XRFM has been designed to detect bright X-ray flashes (XRFs) and gamma ray bursts (GRBs) in the 1-20 keV energy band over a wide field of view (4 steradians), thus facilitating the detection of z>6 XRFs/GRBs, which can be further studied by other instruments. XRFM would use a coded mask aperture design with hybrid CMOS Si detectors. It would be sensitive to XRFs/GRBs with flux in excess of approximately 240 mCrab. The spacecraft is designed to rapidly slew to source positions following a GRB trigger from XRFM. XRFM instrument design parameters and science goals are presented in this paper.

The Energetic X-ray Imaging Survey Telescope (EXIST) is a proposed next generation multi-wavelength survey mission. The primary instrument is a High Energy telescope (HET) that conducts the deepest survey for Gamma-ray Bursts (GRBs), obscured-accreting and dormant Supermassive Black Holes and Transients of all varieties for immediate followup studies by the two secondary instruments: a Soft X-ray Imager (SXI) and an Optical/Infrared Telescope (IRT). EXIST will explore the early Universe using high redshift GRBs as cosmic probes and survey black holes on all scales. The HET is a coded aperture telescope employing a large array of imaging CZT detectors (4.5 m², 0.6 mm pixel) and a hybrid Tungsten mask. We review the current HET concept which follows an intensive design revision by the HET imaging working group and the recent engineering studies in the Instrument and Mission Design Lab at the Goddard Space Flight Center. The HET will locate GRBs and transients quickly (<10-30 sec) and accurately (< 20") for rapid (< 1-3 min) onboard followup soft X-ray and optical/IR (0.3-2.2 μm) imaging and spectroscopy. The broad energy band (5-600 keV) and the wide field of view (~90º × 70º at 10% coding fraction) are optimal for capturing GRBs, obscured AGNs and rare transients. The continuous scan of the entire sky every 3 hours will establish a finely-sampled long-term history of many X-ray sources, opening up new possibilities for variability studies.

The primary instrument of the proposed EXIST mission is a coded mask high energy telescope (the HET), that must have a wide field of view and extremely good sensitivity. In order to achieve the performance goals it will be crucial to minimize systematic errors so that even for very long total integration times the imaging performance is close to the statistical photon limit. There is also a requirement to be able to reconstruct images on-board in near real time in order to detect and localize gamma-ray bursts, as is currently being done by the BAT instrument on Swift. However for EXIST this must be done while the spacecraft is continuously scanning the sky. The scanning provides all-sky coverage and is also a key part of the strategy to reduce systematic errors. The on-board computational problem is made even more challenging for EXIST by the very large number of detector pixels (more than 107, compared with 32768 for BAT). The EXIST HET Imaging Technical Working Group has investigated and compared numerous alternative designs for the HET. The selected baseline concept meets all of the scientific requirements, while being compatible with spacecraft and launch constraints and with those imposed by the infra-red and soft X-ray telescopes that constitute the other key parts of the payload. The approach adopted depends on a unique coded mask with two spatial scales. Coarse elements in the mask are effective over the entire energy band of the instrument and are used to initially locate gamma-ray bursts. A finer mask component provides the good angular resolution needed to refine the burst position and reduces the cosmic X-ray background; it is optimized for operation at low energies and becomes transparent in the upper part of the energy band where an open fraction of 50% is optimal. Monte Carlo simulations and analytic analysis techniques have been used to demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed design and of the two-step burst localization procedure.

The SXI telescope is one of the three instruments on board EXIST, a multiwavelenght observatory in charge of performing a global survey of the sky in hard X-rays searching for Supermassive Black Holes. One of the primary objectives of EXIST is also to study with unprecedented sensitivity the most unknown high energy sources in the Universe, like high redshift GRBs, which will be pointed promptly by the Spacecraft by autonomous trigger based on hard X-ray localization on board. The recent addition of a soft X-ray telescope to the EXIST payload complement, with an effective area of 950 cm² in the energy band 0.2-3 keV and extended response up to 10 keV will allow to make broadband studies from 0.1 to 600 keV. In particular, investigations of the spectra components and states of AGNs and monitoring of variability of sources, study of the prompt and afterglow emission of GRBs since the early phases, which will help to constrain the emission models and finally, help the identification of sources in the EXIST hard X-ray survey and the characterization of the transient events detected. SXI will also perform surveys: a scanning survey with sky coverage ~ 2 π and limiting flux of ~ 5 × 10^-14 cgs plus other serendipitous. We give an overview of the SXI scientific performance and also describe the status of its design emphasizing how it has been derived by the scientific requirements.

The development of Hybrid CMOS Detectors (HCDs) for X-Ray telescope focal planes will place them in contention with CCDs on future satellite missions due to their faster frame rates, flexible readout scenarios, lower power consumption, and inherent radiation hardness. CCDs have been used with great success on the current generation of X-Ray telescopes (e.g. Chandra, XMM, Suzaku, and Swift). However their bucket-brigade readout architecture, which transfers charge across the chip with discrete component readout electronics, results in clockrate limited readout speeds that cause pileup (saturation) of bright sources and an inherent susceptibility to radiation induced displacement damage that limits mission lifetime. In contrast, HCDs read pixels with low power, on-chip multiplexer electronics in a random access fashion. Faster frame rates achieved with multi-output readout design will allow the next generation's larger effective area telescopes to observe bright sources free of pileup. Radiation damaged lattice sites effect a single pixel instead of an entire row. Random access, multi-output readout will allow for novel readout modes such as simultaneous bright-source-fast/whole-chip-slow readout. In order for HCDs to be useful as X-Ray detectors, they must show noise and energy resolution performance similar to CCDs while retaining advantages inherent to HCDs. We will report on readnoise, conversion gain, and energy resolution measurements of an X-Ray enhanced Teledyne HAWAII-1RG (H1RG) HCD and describe techniques of H1RG data reduction.

It has been demonstrated that p-channel charge coupled devices (CCDs) are more radiation hard than conventional nchannel devices as they are not affected by the dominant electron trapping caused by the displacement damage defect the E-centre (phosphorus-vacancy). This paper presents a summary of the results from a comparative study of n-channel and p-channel CCDs each type operated under the same conditions. The CCD tested is the e2v technologies plc CCD47-20, a 1024 × 1024 frame transfer device with a split output register, fabricated using the same mask to form n-channel and p-channel devices. The p-channel devices were irradiated to a 10 MeV equivalent proton fluence of 4.07×10¹⁰ protons.cm^-2 and 1.35×10¹¹ protons.cm^-2, an n-channel CCD was irradiated to a 10 MeV equivalent proton fluence of 1.68×109 protons.cm-2, however due to time constraints the n-channel device was not characterised, n-channel comparisons are instead made using a CCD02. As expected the p-channel CCD demonstrated improved radiation tolerance when compared to the n-channel CCD, at -90 °C there is an approximate ×7 and ×15 improvement in tolerance to radiation induced parallel and serial CTI respectively for equivalent pixel geometries.

We developed an EUV polarimeter consisting of a transmission multilayer and a back-illumination CCD. The transmission of the multilayer at an incident angle of45-deg depends on the polarization angle. We developed a polarimeter by using the transmission. Advantages of usage a transmission multilayer are as follows. 1) The mechanics is simple, because we do not need to move the detectors. 2) High energy photons, where the multilayer is transparent, can be measured as a normal observation, if we use a CCD as a photon counting. 3) By removing the multilayer from the optical axis, normal observation with a CCD can be performed. A stand alone multilayer of Mo/Si was fabricated, which consists of seven layer-pairs with a thickness of 20 nm. We evaluated the performance of the polarimeter using a synchrotron beam line. We confirmed a modulation factor of 47% around 95 eV.

Gamma-ray astronomy in the MeV range suffers from weak fluxes from sources and high background in the nuclear energy range. The background comes primarily from neutron-induced gamma rays, with the neutrons being produced by cosmic-ray interactions in the Earth's atmosphere, the spacecraft, and the instrument. Compton telescope designs often suppress this background by requiring coincidences in multiple detectors and a narrow time-of-flight (ToF) acceptance window. The COMPTEL experience on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory shows that a 1.9-ns ToF resolution is insufficiently narrow to achieve the required low background count rate. Furthermore, neutron interactions in the detectors themselves generate an irreducible background. By employing LaBr₃ scintillators for the calorimeter, one can take advantage of the unique speed and resolving power of the material to improve the instrument sensitivity and simultaneously enhance its spectroscopic performance and thus its imaging performance. We present a concept for a balloon- or space-borne Compton telescope that employs deuterated liquid in the scattering detector and LaBr₃ as a calorimeter and estimate the improvement in sensitivity over past realizations of Compton telescopes. We show initial laboratory test results from a small prototype, including energy and timing resolution. Finally, we describe our plan to fly this prototype on a test balloon flight to directly validate our background predictions and guide the development of a full-scale instrument.

The Gamma-RAy Polarimeter Experiment (GRAPE) is a concept for an astronomical hard X-ray Compton polarimeter operating in the 50 - 500 keV energy band. The instrument has been optimized for wide-field polarization measurements of transient outbursts from energetic astrophysical objects such as gamma-ray bursts and solar flares. The GRAPE instrument is composed of identical modules, each of which consists of an array of scintillator elements read out by a multi-anode photomultiplier tube (MAPMT). Incident photons Compton scatter in plastic scintillator elements and are subsequently absorbed in inorganic scintillator elements; a net polarization signal is revealed by a characteristic asymmetry in the azimuthal scattering angles. We have constructed a prototype GRAPE module that has been calibrated at a polarized hard X-ray beam and flown on an engineering balloon test flight. A full-scale scientific balloon payload, consisting of up to 36 modules, is currently under development. The first flight, a one-day flight scheduled for 2011, will verify the expected scientific performance with a pointed observation of the Crab Nebula. We will then propose long-duration balloon flights to observe gamma-ray bursts and solar flares.

Microchannel plate detectors with cross strip anodes have demonstrated excellent performance characteristics, their resolution has reached the 6-10 μm scale (the typical size of pores in a microchannel plate) and the imaging nonlinearities are small. Working at much lower gain (~5 x 10⁵) than many other devices, the cross strip readout has many other advantages, low complexity, robustness, compactness and the ability to fit many formats. We have now implemented cross strip detectors in several formats including, 40mm open face (UV/particle) and 18mm sealed tube (optical). These have been combined with a new signal processing technique which allows for high counting rates exceeding 5 MHz with high spatial resolution (<20 μm FWHM). The imaging performance is dependent on optimization of firmware algorithms that are used to calculate event position centroids. With new FPGA designs and implementation considerable flexibility is gained, allowing the fidelity of the imaging readout to be progressively tuned for maximal performance.

We present the results of developing a Lyman alpha blind detector for (λ 1000-1100 Å). This detector has potential applications to astrophysical FUV emission observations, particularly the O VI doublet at 1037.62 and 1031.93 Å. By filling the detector with a gas whose ionization potential is above the energy of the bright Lyα airglow line at 10.2eV we hoped to produce an FUV detector that is Lyα blind. Propane (C₃H₈ ) and acetylene (C₂H₂) were tested as potential gas fillers. Both gases were found to have significant sensitivity to the Lyα line, either because of impurities in the gas or from dissociation products formed from Lyα photons, and therefore the detector did not provide the ~10⁷ suppression of Lyα that is necessary to directly detect faint, diffuse FUV emission. When filled with acetylene the detector is 13 times more sensitive to Ar 1067 Å (a proxy for the O VI 1038 and 1032 Å doublet lines) than to Lyα and when filled with propane the detector is 3 times more sensitive to the argon line. The detector has a quantum efficiency of about 7% at 1067 Å with either gas and may hold promise for a completely Lyα blind FUV detector if a suitable gas is found.

In this paper an innovative method to devise a new astronomical observation instrument by simultaneous implementation of a gamma telescope and a gamma spectroscope is presented. Electromagnetic beams emitted from a star e.g. the sun is spread all electromagnetic spectrum from gamma rays to radio waves, but there is a fingerprint in such a wide spectrum that shows the exact fusion reaction which can be traced by associated gamma photons. This means if gamma photons, emitted from each part of sun, to be detected by this instrument, then spatial information is provided by telescope and information about the energy is recorded by spectrometer, by convolving two above mentioned data, there will be an illustration of a star like the sun that can show which area emits associated gamma photons that in turn illustrates the spatial distribution of elements that produce these gamma photons e.g. hydrogen, deuterium, tritium, helium, etc. we choose a reference color for each principle gamma photon, according to method similar to gamut color space of CIE [1], by specific linear transformation, or transformation matrix having photon-energy dependence coefficients, then there will be a colorful illustration of sun or any star (or even a GRB) that depicts distribution of elements, released energy, density of elements, etc. This information in turn will reveal the rate and topological variation of matter, energy, magnetic fields, etc. This information will also help to provide enough data to find spatial distribution function of energy, matter, variation and displacement of matters on stars and in turn, it will provide unique information about behaviors of stars. Finally, the method of vibrating holes to increase the spatial resolution of gamma detectors to hundreds times is presented. This method increases the spatial resolution of semiconductor-gamma telescopes to hundreds of times without decreasing the size of gamma sensor pixels and without any major effort to improve the technology of semiconductor sensors by a method that can be called "spatial resolution versus temporal resolution".

We are developing imaging Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) pixel detectors optimized for astrophysical hard X-ray applications. Our hybrid detector consist of a CdTe crystal 1mm thick and 2cm × 2cm in area with segmented anode contacts directly bonded to a custom low-noise application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The CdTe sensor, fabricated by ACRORAD (Okinawa, Japan), has Schottky blocking contacts on a 605 micron pitch in a 32 × 32 array, providing low leakage current and enabling readout of the anode side. The detector is bonded using epoxy-gold stud interconnects to a custom low noise, low power ASIC circuit developed by Caltech's Space Radiation Laboratory. We have achieved very good energy resolution over a wide energy range (0.62keV FWHM @ 60keV, 10.8keV FWHM @ 662keV). We observe polarization effects at room temperature, but they are suppressed if we operate the detector at or below 0°C degree. These detectors have potential application for future missions such as the International X-ray Observatory (IXO).

The first generation of Swept Charge Device (SCD) the e2v technologies plc CCD54 was used in the Demonstration of a Compact Imaging X-ray Spectrometer (D-CIXS) launched in 2003 and again in the Chandrayaan-1 X-ray Spectrometer (C1XS) instrument currently in orbit around the Moon. The main source of decreased energy resolution in both cases is proton damage, from trapped and solar protons respectively. This paper presents the results from an experimental study to evaluate the performance of the next generation of SCD the CCD234 and CCD236 irradiated with a 10 MeV equivalent proton fluence of 3.0×10⁸ protons.cm-2 demonstrating the factor of two increase in radiation hardness when compared to the CCD54. In particular the increased leakage current, decrease in energy resolution and the degradation of charge transfer efficiency (CTE) are described.

EXtreme ultraviolet spectrosCope for ExosphEric Dynamics (EXCEED) is an earth-orbiting space Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) telescope mission. The satellite will be launched in 2012 by a Japanese new solid propulsion rocket and injected into the elliptic orbit around the earth. The orbital altitude is 900 to 1200 km for perigee and apogee respectively. EXCEED will make EUV spectroscopic and imaging observations of plasma space around various planets in our solar system. The wavelength range is from 60 to 145 nm and the resolution is 0.2 to 0.5 nm FWHM. It enables us to study Io plasma torus of Jupiter, and interaction of the solar wind with the upper atmosphere of the terrestrial planets and their escape. In this paper, we will introduce the mission overview and its instrument especially for holographic grating which is coated by Chemical vapor deposited silicon carbide.

The International X-ray Observatory (IXO) project is the result of a merger between the NASA Con-X and ESA/Jaxa XEUS mission concepts. The IXO mission outline has an X-ray grating spectrometer operating in the 0.3-1 keV band. CCDs are the ideal detector for the readout of the grating spectrometer instrument and have been flown in similar functions on XMM and Chandra. Here we review the Off-Plane X-ray Grating Spectrometer concept for IXO and discuss the optimization of CCD technology for detection in the 0.2-2 keV X-ray band. We will discuss improvements to the existing technology previously flown, and the use of new technology such as electron multiplying CCDs which can provide enhanced signal to noise at these soft X-ray energies, together with radiation hardening measures and methods of reducing sensitivity to optical stray light. We will also end by discussing alternative CMOS-based technology which may be developed in future years to replace the CCD technology, offering benefits of higher system integration and radiation hardness.