Hard x-ray polarimetry with HX-POL

Alfred B. Garson III; Kuen Lee; Jerrad Martin; Matthias Beilicke; Eric Wulf; Elena Novikova; Henric S. Krawczynski

doi:10.1117/12.856834

29 July 2010 Hard x-ray polarimetry with HX-POL

Alfred B. Garson III, Kuen Lee, Jerrad Martin, Matthias Beilicke, Eric Wulf, Elena Novikova, Henric S. Krawczynski

Proceedings Volume 7732, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2010: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray; 77320G (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.856834
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2010, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

X-ray polarimetry offers a unique vantage to investigate particle acceleration from compact objects and relativistic outflows. The HX-POL concept uses a combination of Si and Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) detectors to measure the polarization of 50 keV - 500 keV X-rays from cosmic sources through the azimuthal distribution of Compton scattered events. HX-POL would allow us to measure the polarization degrees of Crab-like sources well below 10% for a one day balloon flight. A longer (15-30 day) flight would improve the polarization degree sensitivity to a few percent. In this contribution, we discuss the sensitivity of a space-borne HX-POL payload, and present new results from laboratory tests of the HX-POL Si and CZT detectors.

Citation Download Citation

Alfred B. Garson III, Kuen Lee, Jerrad Martin, Matthias Beilicke, Eric Wulf, Elena Novikova, and Henric S. Krawczynski "Hard x-ray polarimetry with HX-POL", Proc. SPIE 7732, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2010: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, 77320G (29 July 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.856834

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